The conventional wisdom or paradigm concerning children of divorce maintained that children of divorce were better off away from bickering parents and an unhappy environment after divorce. In The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, Judith S. Wallerstein, et al., (2005) shatter this paradigm in the third work based on their study of 131 children of divorce since 1971. These children are now between the ages of 28 through 43 and the impact of childhood divorce on their development and present lives has not been good. As Wallerstein, et al., (2005, p. xiii) notes, ôàour book hit a raw nerve in America. It broke through an almost conspiratorial silence about the true nature of divorce in our culture.ö This review will provide a summary of WallersteinÆs main conclusions as well as a critique of some of the workÆs weaknesses. A conclusion will provide what stimulated me about the contents of this book.
There are a number of arguments provided by Wallerstein, et al., (2005) that illustrate that for children of divorce, divorce is a life-transforming experience. As one child in the study insists, ôThe day my parents divorced is the day my childhood endedö (Wallerstein, et al., 2005, 26). One of the biggest challenges faced by children of divorce is the loss of family structure. This support mechanism, once lost, greatly undermines the emotion and psychological development of children of divorce. This challenge is compounded by the inevitable loyalty conflicts that arise in the wake of divorce, with fathers ultimately becoming diminished in importance once the children no longer live as a family. As Wallerstein, et al. (2005, p. 298), explains, ôFrom the viewpoint of the children, and counter to what happens to their parents, divorce is a cumulative experience. Its impact increases over time and rises to a crescendo in adulthood.ö
The authors make another argument against traditional views and theories regarding the impact ...