Divergent Realities: The Emotional Lives of Mothers, Fathers, and Adolescents.

Detailing experiences of real families, this book attempts to capture the emotional drama inherent in daily family life. The study that preceded the book involved 55 mostly white, middle- and working-class Chicago-area families who reported on random, everyday moments in their families' lives. The experience sampling method (ESM) was the research approach used, in which random moments were "sampled," resulting in approximately 24,000 "snapshots" of family experiences. In detailing the study, the book addresses three fundamental layers of existence in families: (1) family members as individuals; (2) two-person relationships; and (3) family emotional systems as a whole. The following chapters are included: (1) "The Family: A Brew of Emotions"; (2) "Fathers: Cycles of Work and Leisure"; (3) "Mothers: Interweaving Work and Relationships"; (4) "Adolescents: Lives of Emotional Flux"; (5) "Fathers and Mothers: Marriage in the Trenches"; (6) "Mothers and Adolescents: Love and Conflict"; (7) "Adolescents and Fathers: Fun and Avoidance"; (8) "Troubled Families: Separate Realities"; and (9) "Healthy Families: Toward Congruent Realities." Contains a list of over 400 references. (BGC)