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Remarriage in Couple and Family Therapy

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

Synonyms

Second Marriage; Stepfamilies

Introduction

Remarriage is a matrimonial relationship in which at least one partner was previously married. Up until the mid-1900s, the most common precursor to remarriage was the death of a spouse. With increased life spans and personal choice within relationships, remarriage after a divorce has replaced it as the most common pathway to remarriage. Despite general declines in the rate of marriage overall, many couples are still remarrying. It is estimated that four in ten couples who marry have at least one partner who is entering a remarriage. A common thread in the remarriage literature is the lack of guidelines and cultural expectations that exist when trying to negotiate the complexity of relationships that are formed between remarried families, especially when children are involved. This lack of guidance and direction led one researcher to originally refer to remarriage as an incomplete institution (Cherlin 1978). While a considerable...

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Correspondence to Andrew S. Brimhall .

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Brimhall, A.S., Chizk, G.A. (2017). Remarriage in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_481-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_481-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

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