Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children - Book Review

Adolescence, Fall, 2002

JEYNES, William. Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children. New York: The Haworth Press, 2002. 206pp. $49.95 (h), $24.95 (p).

The effect of family changes on children's academic success is a new subject for study. Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children is a comprehensive volume that brings research on this hotly debated topic up to date. With clear tables and incisive arguments, it is a single-volume reference on this vexing sociocultural problem. Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children offers a close look at the historical background and current theory of this field of study. But it is more than a compendium of known facts and completed studies. It examines issues of appropriate methodology and points out concerns for planning future research. It summarizes current knowledge of the effects of various influences on children's emotional and educational well-being, including divorce and remarriage, single-parent families, nontraditional family structures, race, socioeconomic status, and mobility.