{{short description|American psychologist}} {{Infobox scholar | name = Judith Saretsky Wallerstein | image = Judith Wallerstein.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Judith Hannah Saretsky | birth_date = December 27, 1921 | birth_place = New York City, US | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|06|18|1921|12|27}} | death_place = Piedmont, California, US | alma_mater = Hunter College<br>Columbia University<br>Lund University | main_interests = Divorce and the family | major_works = Second Chances<br>The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce<br>What About the Kids<br>The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts | awards = {{ubl|Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California|Koshland Award in Social Welfare|Commendation from the State of California Senate Rules Subcommittee|Rene Spitz Lectureship from the Denver Psychoanalytic society|Election to Who’s Who in American Science|Dale Richmond Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics}} }}
'''Judith Wallerstein''' (December 27, 1921 – June 18, 2012) was a psychologist who created a 25-year study on the effects of divorce on the children involved.<ref name=Blakeslee /><ref name=Wooo /> She received a number of prominent awards and honors and wrote four best selling books.<ref name=Blakeslee /><ref name="social work" /> Judith Wallerstein was born on December 27, 1921, as Judith Hannah Saretsky in New York City.<ref name=Wooo /> Her father died from cancer when she was 8 years old. Wallerstein received her bachelor's degree from Hunter College (1943), her Master's in social work from Columbia University (1946) and her Doctorate in psychology from Lund University in Sweden (1978).<ref name=Grady /> She died at 90 years old June 18, 2012 from an unexpected intestinal obstruction in Piedmont, California. She was married for 65 years to the academic Robert S. Wallerstein.<ref name=Grady /><ref name=johston>{{cite journal|last1=Johnston|first1=Jan|title=A Tribute to Dr. Judith Wallerstein (1921-2012)|journal=Family Court Review|date=2012|volume=50|issue=4|pages=543–44|doi=10.1111/j.1744-1617.2012.01474.x}}</ref>
== Career ==
Judith Wallerstein taught as the senior lecturer from 1966 to 1991 at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name=Grady /> She held faculty positions at the University of California, The Hebrew University, and Pahlavi University Medical School.<ref name="social work" /> In addition, she also lectured at Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, and Yale.<ref name="social work">{{cite web|title=Judith Wallerstein|url=http://socialworkhallofdistinction.usc.edu/honorees/judith-wallerstein/|website=California Social Work Hall of Distinction|publisher=University of Southern California|accessdate=2 December 2014}}</ref> Wallerstein was a consultant for the Advisory Commission on Family Law to the California Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Justice, The Commission on Law and Mental Health, State Bar of California, and the California Senate Task Force on Family Equity.<ref name="social work" />
In 1980, she founded the “Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition” in Madera, California. The center provided counseling and education for divorcing couples and their children.<ref name=Blakeslee /> In addition, the center conducted a variety of research pertaining to divorce and the family.<ref name=Wooo>{{cite news|last1=Woo|first1=Elaine|title=Judith Wallerstein Dies at 90; Psychologist Was Described by Time Magazine as the 'godmother of the Backlash against Divorce'|newspaper=LA Times|date=4 July 2012|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-judith-wallerstein-20120703-story.html|accessdate=1 October 2014}}</ref> Judith Wallerstein's three best-selling books about children and divorce were: Second Chances, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, and What About the Kids.<ref name=johston /> In 1995, she published a book titled The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts, which was about making marriage succeed.
Wallerstein received many awards including: the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California, The Koshland Award in Social Welfare from the San Francisco Foundation, Commendation from the State of California Senate Rules Subcommittee, the Rene Spitz Lectureship from the Denver Psychoanalytic society, election to Who's Who in American Science, the Dale Richmond Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics, etc.
=== Divorce studies ===
Wallerstein's career was centered around a 25-year-long longitudinal study, the "California Children of Divorce Study," investigating the effects that divorce has on families.<ref name=Blakeslee /><ref name=Grady /><ref name="open mind">{{cite news|last1=Wallerstein|first1=Judith|title=THE OPEN MIND: The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce|url=http://video.pbs.org/video/12377684/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717201110/http://video.pbs.org/videto/12377684|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 17, 2012|accessdate=1 Oct 2014|agency=PBS|date=21 Sep 2000}}</ref> She began her study in 1971 with Joan B. Kelly.<ref name=Blakeslee /><ref name=Grady /> She followed 131 children between the ages of 3 and 18 from 60 divorced families in Marin County, California, for 25 years, with intensive interviews conducted every 5 years <ref name=Grady />
From her research Wallerstein found that only 40% of children from divorce actually marry.<ref name=Grady>{{cite web|last1=Grady|first1=Denise|title=Judith S. Wallerstein, Psychologist Who Analyzed Divorce, Dies at 90|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/health/research/judith-s-wallerstein-psychologist-who-analyzed-divorce-dies-at-90.html?_r=1&.|website=www.nytimes.com|publisher=NY Times|accessdate=1 October 2014}}</ref> She discovered that the effects of divorce are more long lasting than most assume.<ref name=Blakeslee /> The age of child at the time of the divorce really matters,<ref name=Blakeslee /> the largest impact occurs during the period where the child of divorce is a young adult wanting a romantic relationship but afraid of failure.<ref name="open mind" /> Wallerstein also found that the quality of post-divorce life is crucial for the children.<ref name=Blakeslee /> In addition, she found that rates of financial support for college decrease after a divorce due to the large expense of the divorce itself.<ref name="open mind" />
== Criticisms ==
Although Judith Wallerstein had many allies and a number of best-selling books, she also had critics. Some criticized her for the families she studied that were all middle class and the parents were all well-educated, Wallerstein was criticized for not having a wider variety.<ref name=Blakeslee>{{cite web|last1=Blakeslee|first1=Sandra|title=How One Woman Changed the Way We Think About Divorce|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-judith-wallerstein-20120703-story.html|website=www.slate.com|date=4 July 2012 |publisher=Slate magazine|accessdate=1 October 2014}}</ref>
Wallerstein's study exclusively examined middle-class Californians whose participants were pre-selected for therapy and psycho-analysis. She influenced a California court on child relocation, and was criticized by Richard A. Gardner.<ref>The Burgess Decision and the Wallerstein Brief, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 26(3):425-431, 1998, http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/pas/gard98a.htm</ref> Feminists felt that Wallerstein was trying to encourage women to stay in bad marriage and discouraging divorce.<ref name=Grady />
==Partial bibliography== * ''Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade After Divorce'' (with Sandra Blakeslee)(Ticknor & Fields, 1989) <ref name=secondchances>Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade After Divorce JS Wallerstein, S Blakeslee - Ticknor & Fields; u.s. edition (January 1, 1989) {{ISBN|978-0-89919-648-0}}</ref> * ''The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) * ''Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade After Divorce'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1996) * ''Surviving The Breakup: How Children And Parents Cope With Divorce'' (Harper Collins, 1996) * ''The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study'' (Hyperion, 2000) {{Incomplete list|date=August 2008}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallerstein, Judith}} Category:American women psychologists Category:20th-century American psychologists Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Columbia University School of Social Work alumni Category:2012 deaths Category:1921 births Category:Hunter College alumni Category:Lund University alumni Category:21st-century American Jews Category:20th-century American women Category:21st-century American women