ABSTRACT
In 1982, the number of divorces in the United State declined for the first time since 1962. An estimated 1,170,000 couples divorced in 1982, 3.5% fewer than in 1981 (National Center for Health Statistics, 1985). Although this trend sug gests that the divorce rate is levelling off, there is still a sizeable number of children who experience the stress occasioned by family disruption and re organization. In 1982, 8.2% of children of all races under 18 years of age (5.1 million children) were living with a divorced mother; 5.0% of these children (3.09 million) were living with a separated mother. The percentage (and number) of children living with a divorced or separated father was 1.1% (658,000 chil dren) and 0.4% (255,000 children), respectively (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983). Rates for black children are higher than those for white children. Because these data exclude divorced parents who had remarried at the time of the survey, these percentages underestimate the number of children affected by parental divorce. Based on information obtained from a large-scale national probability sample of 11-to 16-year-old children in 1981, Furstenberg, Nord, Peterson, and Zill (1983) estimate that about 39% of all children of all races will experience the marital disruption of their parents by their 15th birthday.
