THERE IS NO question that divorce causes pain and anguish to the teenage children in the family. While divorced parents usually recover and move on with their lives within a year or two—often dating and marrying again—teens find it much more difficult to move on. Many experience effects that are long term—lasting well into adulthood. Until quite recently, the consensus among counselors and other youth workers was that the harmful effects of divorce were overrated. Many experts insisted that a situation in which the parents were angry or unhappy all the time was far more harmful to teens and younger children than divorce would be. As long as parents presented the fact that they were splitting up in a reasonable, positive way, the thinking went, the children could accept the situation. Many professionals stressed...