This paper discusses the special attributes of the legally reconstituted families formed when divorced persons who have children from their previous marriages remarry. The remarriage family is identified as a high risk group for which society has not as yet established norms. Interviews with 70 couples suggest that the stress for couples and families involved in divorce and remarriage would be prevented or reduced through remarriage preparation courses.

Remarriage is analyzed from the perspective of family boundaries and roles. The nuclear and remarriage family models are compared, and the process that begins with the formation of the first-marriage nuclear family and ends with the formation of a second-marriage family is conceptualized in terms of changing family boundaries and roles. Discussions with remarriage group members provide concrete illustrations of this process and suggest solutions to some of the problems confronting remarriage family members.

The experiences of four series of weekly group meetings with a total of 22 couples, in which at least one partner had children by a previous marriage, are discussed. Major complexitis arose from the permeable boundaries of the second marriage due to continuing ties to the former marriage, and from resultant ambiguity of roles among new partners and their spouses' children. The group experience was found to be beneficial in clarifying roles in the remarriage family.

Remarriage is a growing phenomenon for which its members are likely to be poorly prepared, due to inadequate institutionalization of this form of the nuclear family

The traditionally defined "normal" family life cycle is changing for the growing number of people who experience the successive stages of marital breakdown, single-parent household, and the eventual remarriage of one or both former spouses. This paper focuses on some of the special needs of families with minor children, in particular the importance of continuity of parenting and the problems typically encountered in moving from marital disintegration to formation of a new marital bond.