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Several cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period (2004–1595 BCE) deal with blended families in Mesopotamia. This family situation resulted from various causes, such as death, divorce, or polygyny. It often created a cohabitation between step-children, leading to a significant challenge for the parents, regarding inheritance. This issue has not yet been studied from a legal perspective. This paper, based on the study of contracts, lawsuits, and letters, analyzes some of the legal solutions found by Mesopotamian parents, who anticipated situations of competition between heirs and protected their children, showing the value they attached to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an introduction to a collection of papers on developmental trauma which describe psychological and biological effects of exposure to extreme adversity that affects all of development from childhood into adulthood. Each of the papers contributes a different lens in the way we think about and treat people who have experienced trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a long decline, fertility in Tunisia, as in some Arab countries like Algeria and Egypt, recorded an unexpected increasing trend over the 2000 – 2018 period. To account for such demographic change, this paper re-examined the behavior of the main fertility decline factors tested by the previous empirical studies (such as education, income, mortality, and contraceptive use) to check whether they have changed in favor of an upward fertility evolution. Deepening the analysis, it introduced three new socio-economic factors that are likely to favor fertility increase: divorce, unemployment, and longevity. The dynamic one-step generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation on a cylindrical data panel from 1998 to 2018 for eight Tunisian regions confirmed the positive effect of these new variables. Additionally, the education-fertility interaction was found to be no longer obvious. The family planning program appeared to no longer play its role in limiting fertility. The income effect overcame the substitution effect in favor of a fertility increase. The observed increasing fertility trend in Tunisia seems to be more explained by the dominance of some sociocultural factors. Thus, policymakers should seek to better focus on the family institution's behavior to sustain fertility decline and improve the efficiency of its family planning program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights Professor Gavin Jones’ seminal work on Asian divorce patterns, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia’s Muslim communities. Beginning in the 1980s, Jones addressed the challenges of fragmented and often unreliable demographic data on divorce. With careful compilation and analysis of aggregate data, paired with firsthand surveys and ethnographic studies, he set a foundation for examining shifting divorce trends in Southeast Asia. His findings challenged prevailing ethnocentric perspectives and questioned the notion that modernisation invariably leads to rising divorce rates. Jones stressed the importance of understanding divorce within the broader social, cultural, and historical contexts of the respective societies. Beyond his individual research, he was instrumental in cultivating a community of scholars studying marriage and divorce in Asia and fostering collaborations. Jones’ insights into Asia’s demographic shifts have been invaluable, and his legacy will continue to influence demographers for generations to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we pay tribute to the late Emeritus Professor Gavin W. Jones and his outstanding contributions to the scholarship on marriage. Following a chronological assessment of his large body of work on marriage, we reflect on Gavin’s general approach to research changing marriage patterns within and across diverse regions of Asia. His approach to studying marriage went beyond the conventional demographic focus on examining shifts in age at first marriage. He showed how examining shifting patterns across different, yet interrelated aspects of marriage offered an important window to understand the broader complexities of economic and socio-political change in the region; showing why there is much more to demography beyond counting births, deaths, and migration. As two generations of demographers, we reflected how his work and approach to research continue to influence our research and engagement with the region. Gavin’s legacy extends beyond demography and Indonesian/Malay studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While parental divorce can have a profound effect on the development of a child, the effect of a custody conflict following divorce can have an extreme, traumatic, and lifelong impact on a child. The conflict between the parents that occurred prior to their divorce can be sustained long after the parental divorce, reinforcing highly dysfunctional patterns of relationships between the parents, between each parent and child, and then put the child at risk for pathological patterns of relationships with peers and intimates. Though difficulties in the development of mature object relations and a mature sense of self are obviously at risk given this milieu of overt interpersonal conflict, anger, hatred, and parental preoccupation, difficulties in a child's capacity to explore the environment, i.e. play, learn academically, and value their body can also be adversely affected. This paper presents cases from varying stages of childhood development to demonstrate the potentially traumatic effects on the development of children living through parental custody conflict, as well as the lifelong effect on an adult experiencing a parental custody conflict in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst discourses of motherhood, such as the 'ethic of care' and intensive parenting are powerful and persuasive, no form of motherhood can be acceptable to all. In this visual autoethnography, researcher generated photographs, excerpts from training logs and personal narrative texts are used to explore some of the underlying discourses and assumptions associated with motherhood and sport from the perspective of a single parent. Employing a poststructural lens the author explores the ways in which she has knowingly negotiated her identity as a single mother and competitive-recreational long distant triathlete. The research places a spotlight on the significant support role that children can play in relation to adult involvement in sport, turning the tables on the existing focus on parent-athlete relationships. The findings provide further evidence of the value of sports clubs in supporting the continued participation of mothers, adding to the research on sport and parenthood and family studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyses disputed marriages/divorces involving Jewish immigrants to England between 1870 and 1940. English courts came to contradictory decisions in these cases due to the difference between religiously-based systems in Eastern Europe and Britain's secular, centralised approach. The result was split decisions. In civil courts, magistrates upheld religious marriages by awarding maintenance to wives, but the same evidence proved insufficient in the criminal courts to convict for bigamy. Unfortunately, whatever the outcome, these cases fed into anti-alienist rhetoric at the turn of the twentieth century, associating 'alien' Jewish immigrants with wife desertion, criminal behaviour, and even polygamy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to examine the trends, determinants, and consequences of divorce among families in the UAE (Emirati and Non-Emirati). This is accomplished through a systematic comprehensive review of a large number of previous studies that describe the trends, causes, and consequences of divorce from different perspectives. The results show that divorce among families in the UAE is on the rise, following the growth in the number of marriages, with some variations. The causes of divorce are complex and linked to various socio-economic domains, such as finance, society, psychology, and physical factors. The most dominant causes identified are women's education, employment, and empowerment. The consequences of divorce are also complex and wide-ranging, affecting individuals, families, and society as a whole. The research findings could serve as a useful guide for policymakers, experts, service providers, the UAE Ministry of Social Affairs, the UAE Department of Community Development, the UAE National Family Policy, development practitioners, and social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping review aims to provide a systematic overview of the empirical literature on the consequences of divorce-related relocation for children. Literature in English and Dutch focused on divorce-related relocation within countries was screened. The 17 empirical studies, based on 10 independent samples and addressing the consequences of divorce-related relocation, were coded, and analyzed. The results of the included studies, with due caution given the quality of the studies and variation in the data, seem to suggest that divorce-related relocation might possibly have a short-term negative impact on psychological-, relational- and behavioral consequences. The few observations on financial-, physical health- and educational consequences made it difficult to draw conclusions. Extensive empirical research on this topic should be conducted, preferably longitudinal and including a comparison group. This could provide further insight into the short- and long-term consequences of divorce-related relocation for children and the possible interconnectedness of these consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended stay of Syrian nationals under temporary protection in Türkiye for more than a decade has caused an increase in their involvement in private law actions before the Turkish courts. Even though their substantive rights have mostly been regulated following their arrival, the private international law legislation has not yet been reviewed. This research, focusing on the most recent judgments of Turkish courts in divorce actions of Syrian migrants identifies important issues of private international law. These include questions on determination of international jurisdiction of Turkish courts, their access to legal aid and the obligation to provide security, questions of applicable law concerning marriage (including the recognition of the marriages validly celebrated in Syria), determination of the law applicable to divorce and the content of Syrian law. The study demonstrates that some of these questions arise because of the ongoing unfamiliarity of Turkish courts with "temporary protection status" as a relatively new concept in Turkish law, whereas others are related to application of general provisions to temporary protection beneficiaries and highlights the urgent need to review the Turkish private international law legislation considering the status of these persons to provide uniformity in court decisions and to ensure predictability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief report provides an overview of Maine (USA) families using the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau and other governmental sources. This report provides basic descriptive information on Maine families such as population rates, family composition, and ethnic and racial diversity. It also provides an overview of issues impacting Maine families including poverty rates, employment rates, educational attainment, and marriage and divorce rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of Bildung has been booming in several European countries for almost twenty years now, but it has attracted little attention in vocational education. One reason for this is that Bildung, the process of becoming human as a goal in itself, is understood in opposition to vocational education, which task would be to qualify students for the labour market. The goal of this article is to examine whether a marriage is possible between Bildung and vocational education. This is done by consulting and comparing the ideas of three German thinkers: Von Humboldt's classical view on Bildung in the early 19th century, Spranger's idea of Bildung through vocations in the early 20th century, and Blankertz' critical pedagogy from the 1960s. The relevance of these accounts for vocational education today is evaluated by considering whether the authors enable us to think about Bildung and the preparation for a job in a more integrated way. The three accounts have their pros and cons, but Blankertz' critical approach seems most relevant. He accepts that vocational schools prepare for specific jobs, but on the condition that students learn to critically reflect on the kind of society they will be living and working in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]