Does Divorce Make People Happy?
Findings from a Study of Unhappy Marriages

Linda Waite, Ph.D. is the Lucy Flower Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Alfred P. Sloan Center on Parents, Children and Work at the University of Chicago, where she also directs the Center on Aging. She is past Chair of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association and Past President of the Population Association of America.  Her current research interests include the working family, especially dual-career couples with children and the impact of job characteristics on parenting.  She is also interested in the role of the family at older ages in functioning of individuals, intergenerational transfers and exchanges, and employment.  Current projects include a study of attitudes toward marriage and family life, analyses of the nature of intimate unions, and a study of the impact of work on parenting and relationships between spouses. She is Principal Investigator on a subproject of a Program Project on Loneliness, Stress and Health at Older Ages, funded by the National Institute on Aging and headed by John Cacioppo. She has published widely on the family, including an award-winning book with Frances Goldscheider, New Families, No Families: The Transformation of the American Home.  Her most recent book, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, with Maggie Gallagher, won the 2000 book award from the Coalition for Marriage, Family, and Couples Education.

William J. Doherty is a professor at the University of Minnesota, where he also directs the Marriage and Family Therapy Program. He is the author of Take Back Your Marriage and Take Back Your Kids. Mr. Doherty is past President of the National Council on Family Relations and a past Co-Chair of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Coalition. His scholarly interests are fatherhood; families and health; professional, family, and community partnerships; professional practice patterns of marriage and family therapists; and moral and community issues in therapy. He is now doing research in three areas:

• Parenting Together Project. This study, titled "An Intervention in the Transition to Fatherhood," is being funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It tests a psychoeducational intervention with couples, either married or cohabiting, who are expecting their first child. The goals are to increase father involvement with the child, to increase father skills, to enhance father-mother collaboration, and to reduce parental stress.
• Professional Practice Patterns of Marriage and Family Therapists. This is an analysis of data from the first national study of licensed marriage and family therapists and their clients. Findings show that marriage and family therapists treat a wide range of clinical problems, that relational therapy is briefer than individual therapy, and that most clinical cases have positive outcomes.
• Professional/Family/Community Partnerships. Building on the Public Work Model of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Center for Public Affairs, Mr. Doherty and other researchers are developing the theory and practice of democratic public work with families.

Maggie Gallagher is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values and the co-author with Linda Waite of The Case for Marriage. Sh is also a nationally  syndicated columnist. One of the leading voices of the new marriage movement,  she writes and lectures frequently about family issues, especially the social  consequences of the decline of marriage. She is the principle drafter of "The  Marriage Movement: A Statement of Principles" signed by over 100  distinguished scholars, civic, and religious leaders, which calls on Americans to reduce divorce, unmarried childbearing and strengthen marriages. Other publications include The Age  of Unwed Mothers: Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Her syndicated column is carried by  over 70 papers nationwide. Author of Enemies of  Eros (1989) and The  Abolition of Marriage: How We Destroy Lasting Love, she has written for  many publications including USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street  Journal, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, The New Republic, The American Prospect, and  National Review. A graduate of Yale, she lives in Westchester with her husband  and two children

Ye Luo is a Research Associate at the Sloan Center On Parents, Children and Work of the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from  Tulane University. She is interested in work and family interactions, social stratification, and family demography. One of her current studies examines how work and family environments affect parents' emotions and well-being.

Scott M. Stanley is co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver. He has published widely–both research reports as well as writings for couples, with a key focus on commitment theory and research. Along with Dr. Howard Markman and colleagues, Dr. Stanley has been involved in the research, development, and refinement of the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) for over 20 years. Drs. Stanley and Markman are currently engaged in a long term study of the effectiveness of PREP disseminated in the community, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Stanley has co-authored the books Fighting for Your Marriage, A Lasting Promise, Becoming Parents, Fighting for Your Empty Nest Marriage, and is author of The Heart of Commitment. 

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