National, longitudinal surveys from Great Britain and the United States were used to investigate the effects of divorce on children. In both studies, a subsample of children who were in two-parent families during the initial interview (at age 7 in the British data and at ages 7 to 11 in the U.S. data) were followed through the next interview (at age 11 and ages 11 to 16, respectively). At both time points in the British data, parents and teachers independently rated the children's behavior problems, and the children were given reading and mathematics achievement tests. At both time points in the U.S. data, parents rated the children's behavior problems. Children whose parents divorced or separated between the two time points were compared to children whose families remained intact. For boys, the apparent effect of separation or divorce on behavior problems and achievement at the later time point was sharply reduced by considering behavior problems, achievement levels, and family difficulties that were present at the earlier time point, before any of the families had broken up. For girls, the reduction in the apparent effect of divorce occurred to a lesser but still noticeable extent once preexisting conditions were considered.

Longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children were examined to investigate whether effects of parental divorce are evident in young adulthood. Among 18-to 22-year-olds from disrupted families, 65% had poor relationships with their fathers and 30% with their mothers, 25% had dropped out of high school, and 40% had received psychological help. Even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic differences, youths from disrupted families were twice as likely to exhibit these problems as youths from nondisrupted families. A significant effect of divorce on mother-child relationships was evident in adulthood, whereas none was found in adolescence. Youths experiencing disruption before 6 years of age showed poorer relationships with their fathers than those experiencing disruption later in childhood. Overall, remarriage did not have a protective effect, but there were indications of amelioration among those who experienced early disruption.

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A million children experience divorce each .vear, and some policymakers argue for policies that would muke it more difficult for parents to divorce. Ho\+!ever: being e.rposed to a high degree qf nturital conjlict ittrs been siu,nn to place children at risk for a varien of problems. Using mother-child datu from the Nationul Longitudinul Survey oj' Youth (NLSY) and a prospective design, this research esplores two questions: Do the e8ect.s of marital disruption on child wel[-being varq' for children whose parents leave high-conflict marriages versus low-conjlict marriages? HOW do children fare when their high-conjlict parents remain together? WeJnd that sepamtion and divorce are associated brith increases in hehaCor problems in children, regardless of the level of conflict between parents. However. in marriages that do not break up, high levels of muritul conjlict are associated with even greater increases in children 's behavior problems.

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