At the heart of much social research today are issues related to single-parent families. Schlesinger, acknowledged as a Canadian pioneer in this important field, has produced a new comprehensive survey of current research.
Five essays review the literature on the subject from a wide range of perspectives: 'The Lone-Parent Family in Canada'; 'The Qualitative Back-ground' by Leo Davids; 'Custodial Parents: Review and a Longitudinal Study' by Anne-Marie Ambert; 'The Single Teen-Age Canadian Mother in the 1980s: A Review' by Schlesinger; 'Single Fathers with Custody: A Synthesis of this Literature' by Shirley M.H. Hanson; and 'Family Adaptation Following Marital Separation/Divorce: A Literature Review' by Geoff Nelson.
The bibliography includes some 490 annotations of materials published between 1978 and 1984, as well as an annotated list of children's books related to children in one-parent families and reconstituted families. Together with the essays they provide a detailed and thorough guide to contemporary research in a central area of social work study.

Benjamin Schlesinger is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. He has previously published 22 academic books.

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"…a concise reference on a strangely neglected topical area. Content and contributors are thoroughly professional. Widowhood, divorce, unmarried parenthood, and remarriage are handled very effectively….Jetse Sprey’s methodological note on research concepts is distinctive. As a beginning, the book is essential for research on incomplete families."

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