The Detroit News. Author says kids pay dearly for parents' divorce Divorce often is seen as a second chance at happiness for an adult, but not for a child. Adult children of divorce have no guide for a healthy marital partnership. But children from intact families take strength from their parents' marriages, even the decision not to divorce if the marriage was unhappy. Less chance at college.
Remarriage changes a father's focus, at least initially, to pleasing a new wife.
Two-thirds of children grew up with multiple divorces and remarriages of one or both parents. The children of divorce used drugs and alcohol before age 14 more often than did the children of intact families. While two-thirds of the divorce group rated above average in competence at work, only 40 percent functioned well in social relationships. One-third went to therapists to straighten out their personal lives. Instead, she finds that the adult children of divorce in her landmark study are so insecure that only 40 percent have married.