Biography

My research focuses on children, families, and psychological processes of special importance to families such as adopting a systems perspective, grieving relationship loss, emotional pain, and parenting across two homes. I also am interested in different methods for studying related topics, including genetically-informed designs, instrument development, creative coding systems, and secondary analysis of large, representative data sets. I maintain longstanding interests in applied topics related to family conflicts that affect children and involve legal/policy issues. These interests include the consequences of divorce for children, child custody disputes, divorce mediation, and how children are affected by parental conflict. In addition to my empirical work, I write about and work on these issues in broader ways in my roles as Director of the Center for Children, Families, and the Law, Social Science Editor of Family Court Review, and in writing for the public, for example, my recent book for parents, Two Homes, One Childhood: A Parenting Plan to Last a Lifetime or opinion pieces in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/opinion/sunday/how-divorced-parents-lost-their-rights.html?_r=0 and Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/09/08/a-divorce-mediator-answers-can-divorced-parents-just-act-like-parents/

I am interested in graduate students who are passionate about one or more of these issues.

Selected Publications

Emery, R.E. (2016). Two Homes, One Childhood: A Parenting Plan to Last a Lifetime. New York: Avery.

Dinescu, D., Turkheimer, E., Beam, C., Horn, E.E., Duncan, G., Emery, R.E. (2016) Is Marriage a Buzzkill? A Twin Study of Marital Status and Alcohol Consumption. Journal of Family Psychology, 30, 698-707.   

Emery, R.E., Holtzworth-Munroe, A., Kline-Pruett, M., Johnston, J. Pedro-Carroll, J.P.C., Saini, M., & Sandler, I (2016). Scholar-Advocacy Bias in Family Law. Family Court Review, 54, 134-149.

Smyth, B.M., McIntosh, J.E., Emery, R.E., & Howarth, S.L. (2016). Shared-Time Parenting: Boundaries of Risks and Benefits for Children. In L. Drozd & M. Saini (Eds.), Parenting Plan Evaluations: Applied Research for the Family Court (pp. 118-169). New York: Oxford.

Rowen, J. & Emery, R. (2014). Examining parental denigration behaviors of co-parents as reported by young adults and their associatin with parent-child closeness. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 3, 165-177.

Emery, R.E. & Emery, K.C. (2014). Who knows what’s best for children? Honoring agreements and contracts between parents who live apart. Law and Contemporary Problems, 77, 151-176.

Tornello, S.L., Emery, R.E., Rowen, J., Potter, D., Ocker, B. & Xu, Y. (2013). Overnight custody arrangements, attachment, and adjustment among very young children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 75, 871-885.