ABSTRACT
Marital disruption is widely recognized as a significant disruptive force in the lives of those who experience it. This fact is particularly troubling in light of the current incidence of marital separation and divorce. While sources differ in their estimates of the numbers of persons currently experiencing marital disruption and their prognostications for the future, all sources agree that a substantial proportion of the population has been or will be affected in some way by a disrupted marriage. The total number of divorces has risen from .4 million in 1960 to approximately 1.1 million in 1979, and the total number of persons directly affected by these divorces (spouses and children) is now around 3.3 million per year (Glick, 1979).
