"Only God decides": young children's perceptions of divorce and the legal system.

OBJECTIVE: To describe research on perceptions of children aged 6 and younger from 21 families of their parents' divorce, of its impact on their families, and of legal officials. METHOD: Semistructured play interviews were conducted during home visits as parents were conjointly interviewed as part of a larger study on divorce in legal context. RESULTS: Children had much mis-information about divorce as an event and process. What they did know was often inappropriate, frightening, and confusing. They resented how the process "ruined their parents' being friends any more" and proposed reforms based on their wishes and observations. CONCLUSIONS: Greater awareness is needed of the child's desire to be heard during the process, to feel safe and less lonely, and to stay in touch with both parents and extended families. Age-appropriate explanations of psychological and legal aspects of the divorce process are likely to support children's positive adjustment and mental health.

Role of the father.

Fathers make definite contributions to infant development and are now spending more time with their children than in many past decades. This article reviews the most compelling research on the developmental importance of fathers, including father-infant attachment and interaction, and differences between maternal and paternal interaction styles. Results of a long-term study of primary caregiving fathers also are presented.

Fathers, divorce, and their children.

To minimize many of the negative consequences of divorce, it is beneficial to support a father's ongoing involvement in his child's life. Although the research literature isn't unequivocal on this point, it does strongly suggest that men who are "visitors" do not have as much impact on their children and that visits are a poor substitute for having a parental figure. The answer lies in creating meaningful roles for noncustodial fathers that elevate men's opportunities to contribute to their children's overall development. One of the most important messages parents can impart to children is that some commitments outlive change and that working together in the child's best interests is one of them.

Latency development in children of primary nurturing fathers. Eight-year follow-up.

This paper is an 8-year follow-up of 17 families in which fathers began as primary caretakers early in the lives of their children. The emphasis is on the developmental consequences for the children, now in the latency period, as well as their psychological experience of the father's increased significance.

Father's influence in the development of infant's relationships.

Recent research on the father infant interaction has challenged the long held belief that the "most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother". Fathers have significant influences on the development of the infant's relationships both directly and indirectly. Certainly his greatest indirect influence is through supporting, protecting, and facilitating the maternal infant dyad when it is the primary nurturing relationship. New research from a variety of perspectives in Europe and the United States have begun to document the powerful impact that fathers have on their children directly, and not just mediated through the maternal infant dyad. The Nordic family study in Europe, and clinical research by Parke, Lamb, Yogman, and Pruett in the United States have all documented the impact on the infant of increased paternal involvement in the early years, thanks to a variety of influences. Evidence now suggests that infants are able to make direct use of the father's unique contribution to their growth and development. This contribution not only increases the repertoire of available to the infant, but appears to have its own unique meaning to the infant, who often seeks it out quite directly and aggressively. Stylistic differences between paternal and maternal nurturing, appear to be of great interest and use to the child. The close contact between father and infant does not appear to threaten maternal infant attachment. Data from an ongoing longitudinal study of primary care giving fathers in the intact families will be presented. The impact of such a rare but theoretically highly interesting phenomenon on the capacity of the infant to develop useful relationships will be highlighted with clinical materials. Finally, we shall conclude with a discussion of the question in reverse, i.e., how does the infant influence the development of the father's relationships?

The affective experience of residency training in community psychiatry.

The community setting arouses disturbing feelings (of anxiety, loneliness, anger, and disappointment) within the resident in a manner that is both unique and potentially constructive for his development as a clinician. The examination of these feelings in the supervisory setting and through peer supervision is crucial to the success of the resident's work in the community.