When marriage fails.

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1956, Vol 1(10), 310-311. Reviews the book, After Divorce by William J. Goode (1956). The author makes many tabulations and comparisons of the varied interview data, but in many cases it is impossible to estimate the significance of the differences because of the lack of probable errors and critical ratios. The most serious shortcoming of the book is that it is not really a comprehensive study of the psychological aspects of postdivorce adjustment. Divorce is viewed as one mechanism to which persons can turn in their effort to escape the pressures of an institutionalized family system, but the degree to which this escape is successful as a longterm tension-reducer, or as an effective adjustment mechanism, cannot be determined from Goode's data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)