Divorce, Single-Parenting, and Remarriage: Brief Literature Review

more stressful than their mother’s. The discussion section of this paper could be a very helpfulresource in a pastoral care and counseling class.Twenty Major Issues in Remarriage Families. By: Walsh, William M.. Journal of Counseling &Development; 70(6): pp. 709-715; Jul/Aug 1992, 7pThis article surveys the current literature on remarriage in families and identifies 20 majorissues present, organized into four categories: (1) Initial Family Stress - name for the newparent, affection for the new parent and absent parent, loss of the natural parent, instant loveof new family members, fantasy about old family structure; (2) Developing Family Issues -discipline by the stepparent, confusion over family roles, sibling conflict, competition for time,extended kinship network, sexual conflicts, changes over time, exit and entry of children; (3)Feelings About Self and Others - society’s concept of the remarriage family, familial selfconcept,individual self concept; (4) Adult Issues - effects of parenting on the new maritalrelationship, financial concerns, continuing adult conflict, competition of the noncustodialparent.Single-ParentingDevelopmental Issues Impacting Military Families With Young Children During Single andMultiple Deployments. By: Barker, Lisa Hains; Berry, Kathy D.. Military Medicine; Oct2009, Vol.174 Issue 10, p1033, 8p.This article researched 57 families with at least one young child to study how children areaffected by single and multiple Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation EnduringFreedom (OEF) deployments. Though there are some self-reported weaknesses to the study,the findings affirmed what most pastoral caregivers might suspect: children with a deployedparent showed increased behavior problems during deployment and increased attachmentbehaviors when reunited with the deployed parent (ie. “ Home discipline problems, sadness,and increased demands for attention may be present in as many as 25-50% of children youngerthan 5 with a deployed parent”). I found the article to be an interesting segue into one facet ofsingle-parenting and family stress that is not always as prevalent as other issues.Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorder in Lone Fathers and Mothers: Examining the Intersection ofGender and Family Structure on Mental Health. By: Wade, Terrance J.; Veldhuizen, Scott;Cairney, John. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry; Sep2011, Vol. 56 Issue 9, p567, 7pThis article identified a lack of research on the effects of family structure (namely singleparenthood)on fathers. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health andWell-Being for data, the study analyzed 769 lone fathers. The article reports that lone fathersare at greater risk for psychiatric disorders (ie. depression, mania, panic, and substance usedisorders) than married parents and are less likely to seek mental health care. This article,though focusing on fathers, emphasizes that being a lone parent (both mothers and fathers) is adisadvantaged social status, and lone parents show significantly higher rates of psychiatricdisorder compared to their married counterparts.3 Pastoral Care bibliographies 2013