2011

The U.S. Census Bureau (Fields, 2003) reported that the rate of divorce among couples with children grew from 1970 to 2003, resulting in traditional family households declining from 81% to 68% of all households. Thus, today most Americans have been impacted in some way by parental divorce, their own divorce, or both. Many clients and supervisees have experienced parental divorce, and supervisors need to know how best to help them cope. In 2004, 1.1 million children lived with a parent who had experienced a divorce in the last year (Kreider, 2007). Children of divorce – even as adults – are documented to have poorer outcomes than their counterparts from intact families including more distress (McIntyre, Heron, McIntyre, Burton & Engler, 2003), more conflict with parents (Ruschena, Prior, Sanson, & Smart, 2005), lower expectations for a successful marriage (Kirk, 2002), and poorer academic performance (Mulholland, Watt, Philpott, & Sarlin, 1991). Hetherington, Bridges, and Insabella (1998) reported that children from intact families have a 10% risk rate, while children from divorced families have a 25% risk rate, a two and a half fold increase. Yet, the authors asserted that while the increased risk is very real and present, 75% of children of divorce do not demonstrate poorer levels of functioning. Indeed, some have even been enhanced by parental divorce and develop improved coping skills (Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999; McIntyre, et al., 2003; Abbey & Dallos, 2004)