Since 1998, however, divorce has increased significantly. In 1993, for the first time in our history, the number of divorces exceeded the number first-time marriages, and by 1997, that gap had increased to 10% more people leaving marriage than entering it for the first time. More children are forced into single-parent families by divorce than by being born to a teenage mother. More than half the divorces in the state involve parents of minor children. Over the past ten years, more than 114,000 children have experienced their parents' divorce. A study of adult women in 1987 found that those who had been younger than 16 when their parents divorced were about 60% more likely to be divorced or separated themselves at the time of the study."Wallerstein and others who stress the high cost of divorce raise hackles among those committed to the view that children are better off when a bad marriage ends. But a new study of family upheaval by sociologists Paul Amato of the University of Nebraska and Alan Booth of Pennsylvania State University underlines some important distinctions. According to their research, reported in their 1997 book A Generation at Risk, the worst situations for children are high-conflict marriages that last and low-conflict marriages that end in divorce. And it turns out that most divorces fall into the latter category: A whopping 70 percent of.
divorces end "low-conflict" marriages. "For children's sake," Amato and.
Booth conclude, "some marriages should not be salvaged. But in marriages that are not fraught with severe conflict and abuse, future generations would be well served if parents remained together until children are grown.".
Most family problems being with a few simple things, poor parenting practices including harsh inconsistent lack of supervision and support, parental psychopathology, family history of antisocial behavior, antisocial family values, instability in the family, and limited resources.