Judith Wallerstein’s The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce ignited a controversy by arguing that adult children of failed marriages continue to suffer well into adulthood. Wallerstein based her research on the lives of 130 children of 60 middle-class families in northern California for more than two decades.

The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce (with Julia M. Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee), which is a follow up of Wallerstein’s 1979 Surviving the Breakup, argues that divorce throws long shadows into the lives of adolescents and young adults - "the ghosts that rise to haunt them as they enter adulthood. Men and women from divorced families live in fear that they will repeat their parents’ history, hardly daring to hope that they can do better. These fears, which were present but less commanding during adolescence, become overpowering in young adulthood, more so if one or both of the parents failed to achieve a lasting relationship after a first or second divorce. Dating and courtship raise their hopes of being loved sky-high - but also their fears of being hurt and rejected. Being alone raises memories of lonely years in the postdivorce family and feels like the abandonment they dread. They’re trapped between the wish for love and fear of loss."

Against Wallerstein’s gloomy assessment, E. Mavis Hetherington, the author of For Better or Worse: Divorce Reconsidered , and Constance Ahrons, the author of We’re Still Family and The Good Divorce, pushed studies that argue that most grown children recover quickly and are as mentally stable as those from intact families.

The long-term effects of divorce on children -- bad or not so bad - are the subjects of dispute. Robert Emery, a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Children and Families at the University of Virginia, argues, "The truth is in the middle, not at the extremes."

The nonresidential, noncustodial father is "very important," according to Dr. Paul Amato, chairman of the Sociology Department at Penn State. "Positive, frequent involvement on the part of nonresident fathers benefits children. Going out for ice cream, seeing movies, or visiting amusement parks may be enjoyable, but these activities do not necessarily contribute in a positive way to the children’s development. Keeping track of how their children are doing in school, talking to the children about right and wrong, helping children with their personal problems, and even disciplining their children when they misbehave" are activities "that significantly affect development."

Dr. Amato, who has studied family structure for 20 years, suggests that parents weigh their decision to divorce against the amount of conflict in their marriage. He argues that divorce that ends a "high-conflict" marriage "often results in beneficial effects for the children, while the dissolution of a low-conflict marriage is more likely to have a negative effect." Emery suggests "[a] marriage can be ’good enough’ for the children without being good for the parents." The children, in this regime of thinking, see family as "a safe and nurturing place, even as the parents suffer in silence."

To a child, family structure remains vital. "It is critical for the well being of the children that both parents continue to play important roles in the their lives. Parents should work together as much as possible for the well being of the children to limit the damage divorce can have on children."