Experiencing parental divorce during childhood or adolescence is a common disruptive stressor in the United States and many other countries. In recent years, the divorce rate (ratio of annual divorces to marriages) in the United States was .49; with about half of first marriages ending in divorce (Cherlin, 1992; Kelly, 2000; Munson and Sutton, 2006; US Census Bureau, 2007). This affects approximately 1.5 million children and adolescents each year (Summers et al., 1998). Similar divorce rates are found elsewhere, including: .65 in the Russian Federation; .56 in Germany; .54 in the United Kingdom; .49 in Canada; and .43 in Australia (US Census Bureau, 2007).
