ABSTRACT

Divorce is no longer considered to be an aberration in the normal family life cycle, but a normative transition for a substantial minority of families (Bray and Hetherington, 1993; Brody et al., 1988). In the US and the UK between a quarter and a third of marriages end in divorce. About two-thirds of these involve children. Nine out of ten cases culminate in the child living with the mother. About three-quarters of divorced men and women remarry and 20–25 per cent of children whose parents have divorced develop long-term adjustment difficulties.