ABSTRACT
A reasonable estimate is that 45–50% of all U.S. marriages will end in dissolution, with the rate highest for African Americans and lowest for Mexican Americans born outside the country (Amato, 2010). Most divorces occur during a couple's children-rearing years and have important consequences for children. For this chapter on divorce, we will include consideration of “informal divorces” of couples with children who are not married, since four in ten children in the United States are born outside marriage (National Center for Health Statistics, 2009). We will also not distinguish between separation and formal divorce. All changes in family structure are hazardous for children's development and may precipitate a crisis reaction. In fact, divorce and marital separation are second only to the death of a parent as stressful events for youngsters (Coddington, 1972). Given that approximately two percent of children living in the United States are faced with parental divorce each year (Emery & Forehand, 1994) and the speculation that 25% of children experience a parental breakup by age 14 (Baydar, 1988), it is crucial to understand the impact that divorce has on children.
