By Jan Hittelman
Generally, half of all marriages end in divorce, although those numbers have gone down a bit because of our recent economic challenges. A key concern for divorcing parents is the affect that this will have on their children. We know that children of divorce are at-risk for a variety of negative emotional, behavioral, and academic impacts. Looking closer at the research, however, we learn that it’s not the divorce per say, but how the divorcing parents interact that contributes to children’s overall adjustment. Generally, the more caustic and negative the relationship is between divorced parents, the poorer the child’s adjustment will be. While divorce inherently creates tremendous conflict and friction between husband and wife, it is important to develop ways to move on and heal in order to maximize not only the children’s post-divorce lives, but those of the parents as well.