theories to the topic of mother-headed yet grappled fully with the fact that close comment on the lack
comment on the lack of socialization for
families. However, with further reading,
it becomes evident how the historical
and demographic discussion sets the
stage for a meaningful theoretical discus-
sion.
This book is a valuable asset for
graduate-level courses that emphasize
single-parent families or in-depth analysis
of family forms. Professionals who work
with family policy relating to mother-
headed families, especially those con-
cerned with public assistance programs
or financial decisions relating to divorce,
will find cross-cultural comparisons of
public support and divorce decisions to
be of interest. In sum, this book is highly
recommended as an addition to universi-
ty libraries in order to provide historical,
demographic, and theoretical founda-
tions for the study of mother-headed fam-
ilies; and to provide a framework for
consideration of the relation between
policy and mother-headed families.
CAROLYN S. HENRY
Department of Family Relations and
Child Development
Oklahoma State University
Ganong, Lawrence H., and Coleman,
Marilyn. (1994). Remarried Fami-
ly Relationships. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage. 183 pp. Paper ISBN 0-
8039-5123-X, price $14.95.
Remarried Family Relationships is
an excellent summary of current remar-
ried research. Each section comprehen-
sively reviews a particular area of litera-
ture, analyzes strengths and weaknesses,
and identifies directions for further
investigation. The resulting bibliography
of over 300 references is itself worth the
price of the book.
Ganong and Coleman begin with an
overview of the field. Demographic data
tell us that 35% of children in the U.S.
will be part of a stepfamily before they
reach the age of 18 years. Research chal-
lenges presented by stepfamily complex-
ity are underlined: 15 different family
typologies, 22 possible dyadic relation-
ships, and boundary ambiguities created
by the combination of both residential
and non-residential children and par-
ents. The authors note that their 1979
review yielded 11 studies; their 1990
review located well over 200 titles. They
see improvement in research quality
(more longitudinal studies, increased
theory building specific to stepfamily
dynamics, increasingly sophisticated
methodology) and great strides in the
clinical literature.
Despite this exponential growth, the
authors conclude that the field has not
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relationships in stepfamilies differ funda-
mentally from close relationships in
nuclear families and they remind us that
researchers and clinicians remain profes-
sionally segregated. Furthermore, an
over-simplified "deficit comparison"
research paradigm continues to domi-
nate the field. This model implicitly (and
often explicitly) sees first-time families as
normal and looks for deviance in other
family forms. In contrast, the "normative-
adaptive" perspective considers the com-
plexity of remarried family relationships
and identifies healthy processes specific
to stepfamily life. The authors attribute
ongoing limits in the "breadth, depth
and speed" (p. 22) of development of
this body of literature to the fact that
scholars have continued to "explore the
terrain of remarried family life ... with a
nuclear family map" (p. 23).
The second chapter identifies
diverse pathways to stepfamily life and
points out that the research to date has
not fully considered the impact of pre-
remarriage family dynamics on stepfami-
ly life. "The remarriage may start a new
chapter, but the story lines continue
from earlier chapters" (p. 24). This chap-
ter provides a wealth of demographic
data on who remarries, covering
income, age (remarriers are an average
of 10 to 12 years older than first marri-
ers), gender, timing (30% of divorcees
remarry within 12 months of their
divorce), race, children, and previous
marital status.
Chapter 3 turns to adult remarriage
relationships, noting that the courtship
literature continues to focus narrowly
on younger first marriers. The authors
postulate an "avoidance hypothesis" to
explain findings of continued lack of
preparation and planning for remarriage
dynamics. This chapter thoroughly
reviews research to date on causes for
the slightly higher remarriage divorce
rate and summarizes findings on remar-
ried couple dynamics. Ganong and Cole-
man call for more description of healthy
remarriage dynamics among avenues for
further research.
Chapter 4 weaves clinical and theo-
retical perspectives together with quali-
tative and quantitative data on "perhaps
the most heavily scrutinized close rela-
tionship within stepfamilies, the step-
parent-stepchild relationship" (p. 69).
Differences between stepmother and
stepfather, and residential and non-resi-
dential stepparenting are reviewed, as
well as research on child abuse in step-
families. With characteristic wry
humor-"We have never heard of a child
saying, 'I want to be a stepmommy
when I grow up"' (p. 77)-the authors
1995 FAMILY
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
the stepparenting role, despite its fre-
quency. The important role of the
stepchild in shaping the stepparent's
behavior is not overlooked.
In Chapter 5 Ganong and Coleman
gather existing, and fascinating, contri-
butions to critical stepfamily relation-
ships often ignored by other research-
ers: biological parent-child, sibling, ex-
spouse, and grandparent and stepgrand-
parent relationships. Chapter 6 lists
clinical findings about stepfamilies and
provides detailed descriptions of several
models of stepfamily development. In
Chapter 7 Ganong and Coleman analyze
the current state of the study of remar-
ried families and provide students and
scholars with a thorough list of direc-
tions for further study.
This book is appropriate not only
for scholars but also for clinicians, grad-
uate students, and teachers who need an
accessible and comprehensive summary
of research results on remarried family
life. Ganong and Coleman have made a
major contribution to increasing the
cross-fertilization between researchers
and clinicians so necessary to the crucial
task of developing accurate maps of
remarried family life.
PATRICIA L. PAPERNOW
Clinical Committee
Stepfamily Association of America
Kurdek, L. A. (Ed.). (1994). Social Ser-
vices for Gay and Lesbian Cou-
ples. New York: Harrington Park
Press. 123 pp. Paper ISBN 1-56023-
052-5, price $14.95.
Kurdek notes in his introduction
that many professionals working in the
area of social services have received lit-
tle or no training with regard to the spe-
cial needs of gay and lesbian couples.
This book can be useful to social service
providers in helping to fill the knowl-
edge gap regarding both general and
specific information related to lesbian
and gay couples. The book is a collec-
tion of five papers that have also been
published in the Journal of Gay and
Lesbian Social Services, Volume 1,
Number 2, 1994.
Two of the papers offer general
information regarding gay and lesbian
couples. "Difference and Diversity: Gay
and Lesbian Couples" by Murphy
reviews current knowledge about les-
bian and gay couples and provides thera-
peutic implications for working with
couples. The major theme of Murphy's
paper is diversity. She discusses ways in
which gay and lesbian couples differ
from heterosexual couples, ways that
119