by Richard Weissbourd

About the author: Richard Weissbourd is a psychologist and a fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Editor's note: The names of the characters in this article have been changed.

When Fred Louis looks back at everything that went haywire in 1993—leaving school, drinking heavily, feeling bottomless misery—it seems as if his parents' divorce a decade before was at the root. An earnest, barrel-chested 17year-old with a broad, mild smile, he didn't understand the full extent of the damage at first. In fact, he thought he had come to a kind of truce with the divorce. Instead, his feelings about the divorce sneaked up and uncoiled on him.

Divorce is often held responsible for the difficulties of millions of children like Fred. Divorce and unwed motherhood are being blamed for children's school troubles...