Is divorce a catastrophe for children? Do single parents have trouble establishing authority in their homes? Do boys have a harder time adjusting than girls? Based on a unique longitudinal study of 100 divorcing families with school-age children, this book argues that popular images of divorce including those shared by many psychologists are too individualistic, too negative, and too universalizing about an experience that can be very different for men and women, parents and children, and different kinds of families. The book integrates qualitative and quantitative data to illuminate both the positive and negative effects of divorce on family members and family relationships, offering a nuanced, empirically grounded examination of divorce as a family system event.