E. Mavis Hetherington

E. Mavis Hetherington (November 27, 1926 – July 21, 2023) was a Canadian psychology professor at the University of Virginia. She was a leading researcher on the impacts of divorce, family as units, and child development. She published more than 200 articles and edited 13 books. Hetherington also introduced a new method of analyzing observational research.

Early life and education E. Mavis Hetherington was born in British Columbia on November 27, 1926. She earned a B.A. degree in English and psychology in 1947, and a year later earned her M.A. in psychology at the University of British Columbia. After receiving her master's degree, she entered the graduate program at the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psychology in 1958. At Berkeley, Hetherington studied under Leo Postman, who influenced her to become involved in research instead of becoming a practitioner.

Marriage and career Hetherington met her husband, John Hetherington, while working on her Ph.D. She started her academic career at Rutgers University-Newark. In 1960, Hetherington and her husband obtained positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, some of those children are adults and have also been divorced or remarried. This has allowed Hetherington to study the effects of divorce and remarriage through generations.

Later life and death Because of her husband's illness, Hetherington retired in 1999 after 29 years at the University of Virginia, but her research continued through the students she mentored.