Karl Pillemer

What problem touches millions of people and causes distress so profound that it can last a lifetime? What if no reliable professional guidance exists for this problem, so most people who suffer from it are on their own in finding solutions? This critically important issue - and hidden epidemic - is family estrangement. Few problems are so widespread and so damaging, sometimes for decades and across generations, and yet there has not been a definitive, popular and data-informed book about how families are broken and stay broken - until now. Fault Lines is a fascinating, moving and above all practical treatment of this complex issue, aimed at adults of all ages. Based on 300 in-depth interviews with 1,800 individuals, this book captures the eloquence of ordinary people facing family challenges that threaten their identity, health and well-being, relying on sources never before available, including a unique combination of rich, in-depth interviews, data from large-scale surveys and conversations with leading family therapists. This is the first book to reveal successful strategies from people who have found ways to repair rifts or live peacefully with the consequences when nothing can be done - and the first to offer hope to broken families which need it the most.

Fractured Families and How to Mend Them

Fault Lines

Phyllis Moen

Professor Karl Pillemer, PH.D.

McKnight Presidential Chair in Sociology Phyllis Moen

Nina Glasgow

Elaine Wethington

Social scientists use the term social integration to refer to individuals' connections with others in their environments. The concept and its consequences have been the subject of considerable study. Many researchers have asserted that meaningful and enduring ties to other persons serve as a buffer against stress, and thereby promote physical and mental health. The results are especially pronounced for older persons. Social Integration in the Second Half of Life presents integrative reviews of theory and research on this topic. The editors and contributors, all currently or previously affiliated with the Cornell Gerontology Research Institute, also present new empirical findings of research done at their center. The first section of the book discusses basic theory and principles of social integration in later life and its implications for health. The second, largest section examines specific issues: retirement, driving, family support, housing, neighbors. The third section addresses interventions to promote social integration: transportation, volunteering, and peer support for dementia caregivers. Throughout, the authors focus on the diverging influences of social integration and its converse, social isolation, in later life.

Karl Pillemer

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