The central argument of Kelly and Emery's article is that children from divorced families have a greater risk of adjustment problems than children from divorced families. continuously married. One of the main conclusions that led them to this idea is the fact that these children perform less academically. They are two to three times more likely to drop out of school than children from intact families and are at high risk for teenage pregnancy and child-rearing. This is partially explained by the fact that most divorced families are associated with poverty or low income which may only worsen after separation. This in turn reduced the amount of parenting services both socially and financially, which led to less positive parent-child relationships. Which leads to the next main conclusion: Children from divorced families tend to have more difficulty with intimate relationships as young adults. Compared to young adults from continuously married families, these children report greater dissatisfaction with marriages (which also tend to end in divorce) and relationships. This is most likely due to the learned behaviors they grew up with in their childhood families. Seeing parents argue and put each other down creates a rocky foundation for future relationships. These families also tend to begin through cohabitation or premarital pregnancy, while continuously married families begin through more traditional means. However, Kelly and Emery both discuss how there are protective factors that can benefit these families and moderate the risks associated with divorce for individual children. However, they discuss protective factors that reduce the risk of divorce for children. One of...... middle of paper...... to see common patterns among children and families. If it is possible to identify these factors it is easier to understand where they come from and possibly how to overcome them. It is also important to note that these are common occurrences, but they are by no means bound to happen to everyone under these circumstances. For example, my family went through divorce. My father was married before he met my mother and had my older sister with her first wife. There was serious conflict in that relationship which resulted in much conflict within my home as my father and more specifically my sister adjusted to remarried life. I thought that because my family was normal and didn't have many problems when I was born, I thought things like this couldn't happen. We didn't fit the stereotype, but it still affected us. We were an outlier affected by this problem.