The Doom and Gloom of Divorce Research

Wallerstein and Lewis (2004) conclude from their correlational research of 45 divorced families that divorce causes lasting damage to children. The authors attribute the subsequent psychological problems in the children to the divorce itself as opposed to the psychopathology of the parents, the trauma of their parenting and their conflicted marriage. Other researchers have found that just after divorce, children have more symptoms than those in high-conflict non-divorced families, but as the children adapt to the new situation, the pattern of differences reverses. When divorce is associated with children moving into a less stressful situation, children from divorced families have similar adjustment to those from normal intact families