THE BOOKSHELF

• Date: 01 July 1994
• Published date: 01 July 1994
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1994.tb01076.x

THE

BOOKSHELF

Parents

Whose

Parents Were

Divorced

R.

Thomas

Berner

Haworth,

New

York,

1992

Another book about the continuing effects of divorce on adult children of divorce

(ACD),

Parents Whose Parents Were Divorced

is

a

qualitative study of almost

300

adults, who completed a questionnaire about their childhood experience of divorce.

As a professor of journalism at Pennsylvania State University, Berner advertised

nationwide in

3

16 newspapers for subjects, whose parents had divorced and who were

now parents themselves. In response, Berner received

459

“letters

of

interest,” with

approximately

300

subjects eventually completing

the

questionnaire.

In recent years, many qualitative and quantitative studies of ACD have been

conducted. Bed and Hoohman’s

Adult Children

of

Divorce

is written from a clini-

calltherapeutic perspective, where different “styles of coping” with divorce

are

identified along with treatment implications. And, Everett’s

Divorce and the Next

Generation

is a collection

of

research studies, which

is

reviewed in this present issue

of

Family

and

Conciliation Courts Review.

Finally, in a previous volume of this same

journal (Vol.

29,

No.

4,

October 1991), this reviewer examined Berman’s

Adult

Children

of

Divorce Speak Out.

Increasingly, interest has grown in the examination

of the continuing effects of divorce into adulthood (“the next generation”), not only

with respect to intimate relationships but in overall adjustment.

Berner’s book is unique in its focus on “parents whose parents were divorced.”

He found many of the ACD parents describing themselves

as

“overprotective” in their

own parenting, rather

than

fostering independence in their children. The author

remarks, “It is

as

if they were compensating for a missed (their own) childhood’

(p. 108). These parents seem to want a strong sense of family togetherness, often

reportedly being more caring and patient than their own parents. And, with respect to

discipline, the author reports these ACD parents seek to avoid negative methods of

discipline used by their own parents, instead attempting “to be fair, non-abusive, and

consistent” (p. 108). Even though Berner was amazed by “the depth of feeling people

in their fifties, sixties, and seventies still had about their parents’ divorce” (p. 117),

apparently these individuals have worked hard to provide a better home environment

for their own children.

As an appendix, Berner includes his “Questionnaire for Children of Divorce

Who

Are Now Parents,” an instrument other researchers may find useful. Filled with

open-ended questions, the subjects’ responses to the questionnaire could guide future

investigators in their own research.

Reviewed by

F.

Samuel Gleason

FAMILY

AND CONCILIATION COURTS

REVIEW,

Vol.

32

NO.

3,

July

1994

397-404

Q

1994

Sage

Publications,

Inc.

397