Adaptation to Divorce: The Impact of Role Orientation on Family-Life-Cycle Perspectives

Abstract

Identifying the role orientation of recently divorced women holds promise for further understanding the divorce process and the family life cycle of nonnuclear families. The authors describe how 30 female heads of family perceived their adaptation to divorce and to the reconstruction and development of their family units. Results of this exploratory study further suggest that the meaning and value a divorced woman attaches to the mothering component of her role as well as the comfort she feels in accepting a work identity affect the ways in which she adapts to being a single parent. The consequences of this adaptation, in turn, alter the content of the family life cycle.