Children of Divorce A Review of the Psychological Literature

The incidence of divorce has jumped 125% in the past 16 years (Bureau of the Census, 1977). The rise from 2.2 divorces per 1000 population in 1960 to 5.0 per 1000 in 1976 is a national trend which shows no sign of declining (Kelly & Wallerstein, 1976). At present, 60-75% of divorces involve children under age 18, indicating that one million children annually experience the divorce of their parents, as well as the attendant problems of custody and visitation decisions. The popular myths about divorce include the notions that children reared in oneparent homes are more likely to be delinquent, sexually maladjusted, underachievers, and emotionally unstable (cf., Gettleman & Markowitz, 1975). Metz (1968) wrote, "Children with a father in the home generally have higher ratings on intelligence tests than children living without a father" but offered no evidence for this claim. Doppler (1973) pointed to the fact that most mothers get custody as a cause for the current drug abuse, campus unrest, juvenile delinquency, and high veneral disease rates in our society. Finally, Rutter (1971) recalled the conclusion of a W.H.O. Expert Committee (W.H.O., 1951) on the question of children's need for an always-present mother. The committee reported that the use of day care caused "permanent damage to the emotional health of a future generation" (p. 233). The purpose of this comment is to contrast the popular mythos with results of the best research on children of divorce. Principal questions addressed are: What are the typical reactions of children to the divorce of their parents? To what degree has divorce been shown to harm children, and which aspect of divorce is the major stressor? What are the implications of these findings for clinicians, researchers, and lawyers?