Children whose parents divorce typically complete fewer years of schooling, have lower incomes as adults, higher rates of poverty and welfare receipt, higher rates of unmarried childbearing and higher divorce rates if they marry. None of these consequences is enormous, on average, and many children of divorce manage to do extremely well. And we aren't sure that these undesirable outcomes wouldn't have happened without the parent's divorce. The effort to reform divorce and marriage laws in America is driven by a belief that the consequences of divorce are both too great and preventable. On the first point, there is general agreement.
Divorce is a leading cause of poverty.
It takes a toll on the health of adults. It reduces productivity, and appears to foster unstable marriages in future generations. Surely, we all pay a high price for the 43 percent of all marriages that now are expected to end in divorce. Those in the divorce reform movement acknowledge that stricter divorces may limit individual autonomy and freedom. But that is their point.