Families of remarriage constitute a growing number of American families. The spiraling divorce rate of the 1970s was accompanied by a concomitant increase in the number of remarriages. Forty percent of American families today contain at least one spouse that has been previously married, thus studying relationships within families of remarriage is crucial to understanding the experiences of both children and adults in American families. This study uses a life-span perspective to examine the qualitative accounts of 62 women 43 of whom divorced, spent some time as a single parent of at least one child, and remarried and 19 of whom had divorced and did not remarry. Some of those women also had a remarriage end in divorce. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were used to both explore relationships within families of remarriage, and differences between those women that remarried and those who remained single parents. Quantitative analyses revealed that women who did not remarry were better educated and had more conflict with their former spouse over time. Women who were younger when they became a single parent for the first time, had more children, had jobs rather than careers, and had less education reported more marriages overall. Qualitative analyses showed that particular problem areas in families of remarriage centered around the adjustment period between the children and the new partner, finances, and communication. Remarriages that failed were characterized by problematic relationships between children and their mother's partner. As this was predominantly a white, middle-class sample, generalizations to other populations should be made with caution. Directions for future research are discussed. / Graduation date: 1994

This study was an investigation of the perceptions of 65 remarried couples of the issues and tasks set forth in current literature on remarriage that are said to be experienced in common by the remarried family as it integrates into an on-going, stable, supportive unit. Analysis of the survey instrument results indicated that all of the items were perceived as having been experienced in the past by at least 17% of the sample, with often considerable spread between the number experiencing an item and the number experiencing disturbance because of the item. There was strong evidence that the partners perceived a lessening over time in the degree of disturbance experienced in their remarriage and that certain aspects of remarriage family integration processes were more or less troublesome according to the role the individual partner played in the remarriage. Implications for family education and counseling are offered. / M.S.