Maggie Gallagher

In the following viewpoint, Maggie Gallagher challenges E. Mavis Hetherington’s book For Better or Worse: Divorce Reconsidered, which contends that most children of divorced parents do not suffer devastating consequences later in life. Gallagher argues that Hetherington trivializes many of the severe effects of divorce on children, such as poor relationships with their fathers, engaging in premature sex, and teenage pregnancy. According to Gallagher, divorce inflicts intense pain on children, and parents should find a less damaging path to personal fulfillment. Gallagher is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values in New York.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the author, what are the different reasons men and women give for divorcing?
2. What factor later improved divorced people’s lives, as stated by Gallagher?
3. What does the author contend...