Nobody would disagree that happy intact marriages offer children the best chance for healthy development. The authors hoped to determine how children of unhappy intact marriages fared. This is partly a methodological dilemma. This comparison group was introduced to the study only at the 25-year mark. None of the interviewers had firsthand knowledge of their subjects' lives as children.
All family history is rendered retrospectively.
Doing so will show children that their parents were able to act on behalf of the greater family good. And in the process, it will demonstrate in a very real way the value of commitment, loyalty, and even self-sacrifice for the sake of those who would suffer most from divorce. Ultimately, the parents of unhappy unions who chose to stay together may have been able to do so because on some level, apart from concern for their children, their marriage was good enough . Not good, but good enough. There is not yet enough solid research to draw conclusions.