Kinship and Divorce

In an attempt to specify more carefully the impact of divorce and remarriage on the relational system of kinship, this paper examines contacts of 128 married, divorced, and remarried women with geographically-available close and (former) spouse's kindred; the help pattern between the women and kin that results; and the consequences of this on the kin networks of minor children. Consistent with other studies, we find a bias in the kin networks of divorcees, as fewer of them contact or receive help from their (former) spouse's kindred than do married women. Remarried women and their children remain isolated from their former husband's/absent father's kin, but are integrated into the kin networks of their present husband/ stepfather. Moreover, social relations of children with their paternal kin change as a result of divorce, resulting in less contact with their absent fathers' kin. However, this study shows that the presence or absence of contact of dicorcee's children with the kin of the absent father is related to their contact with the absent father. His contact with his children is associated with their contact with his kin. The absent father serves as a pivotal link between his kin and his children. These alterations in the kin networks of women and their children by marital status are not variants of the kinship system but result from the absence of a resident spouse/father who had provided a necessary link with his kindred.