happy" marriages. Children whose parents had "fairly happy" marriages, in turn, were rated as being more aggressive than children from "very happy" marriages. It can be concluded that the majority of children whose parents divorced have more adjustment problems, on average, than do the children whose parents are happily married. Among children aged seven to eleven (in the U.S.), parental divorce is associated with a two to three times greater likelihood of contact with a mental health professional (Zill 1978).
             The observation that children from single-parent families were over-represented among delinquents implies that divorce causes externalizing problems early in life (e.g., Glueck and Glueck, 1950). Psychoanalytic and social learning studies theories suggest that fathers play a central role in the moral development of their sons. According to these theories, children who were not living with their fathers because of separation, divorce, death, or out-of-wedlock birth were considered to be more likely to present delinquent
             ...