You Were Sent Here Because You’re Quoting Linda Waite’s First Book. Twenty-Five Years Later, Her Own Research Has Changed the Story. Linda Waite is still pro-marriage. But her...
Research & Documentation
Divorce and Child Custody Depositions: How to Prepare (What to Expect)
Divorce and Child Custody Depositions: How to Prepare (What to Expect) One of my readers recently asked how to prepare for a child custody deposition. If you've never been...
Best Parenting Plan Workbook for High-Conflict Divorce
Best Parenting Plan Workbook for High-Conflict Divorce There are many good parenting plan resources, but they do not all serve the same kind of parent. Some parenting plan books...
The “Easy Divorce” Myth: For Many Christian Survivors, Divorce Took Years
Divorce Wasn’t “Easy.” For Many, It Took Years. When policymakers talk about making divorce harder, they often seem to imagine careless people casually walking away from decent...
Divorce Is Not the Mass-Shooter Warning Sign People Think It Is
Divorce Is Not the Mass-Shooter Warning Sign People Think It Is In The Violence Project data, childhood trauma / abuse appears more often than parental divorce — 33–68% compared...
“Kids Are Resilient” Does Not Mean “Divorce Doesn’t Matter”
“Kids Are Resilient” Does Not Mean “Divorce Doesn’t Matter” Anti-divorce groups love a sneering line: “They say kids are resilient. Ha ha.” Notice the trick. “They” is left vague...
87 Ways “The Body Keeps the Score” After Trauma
87 Ways "The Body Keeps the Score" After Trauma Trauma is not only remembered in the mind; it is carried in the body. In the work of two of the best-known trauma physicians,...
Healing After Divorce: What a New 2025 Study Found About Post-Trauma Growth
A Remarkable Pattern of Healing Over Time A new 2025 study of middle-aged divorced women offers something many Christians need to hear: the pain of divorce is real, but it is not...
The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: What Counselors, Students, and Divorcing Parents Need to Know
Judith Wallerstein on Divorce and Children: What Pastors, Counselors, and Divorcing Parents Need to Know A critical review of Judith Wallerstein’s five major books on divorce,...
12 Half-Truths in Focus on the Family’s “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids?”
12 Half-Truths in Focus on the Family’s “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids?” Focus on the Family should be ashamed of this article. Why? Because it tells frightened parents that...
75% of Divorced People Are Happy (GSS 2024)—So Why Does the Church Say the Opposite?
Here’s Why That Misery Message Persists—Even When the Data Says Otherwise I often hear church leaders and Christian organizations repeat a familiar warning: Divorced people are...
When Divorce Is Called “Violence” but Abuse Is Not: What Sermons Reveal
When Divorce Is Called “Violence” but Abuse Is Not Dr. Valerie Hobbs, a linguist and senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., has spent years studying how...
Pastors and Christian Divorcees: What LifeWay’s Surveys Reveal About the Church Divorce Gap
Pastors and Christian Divorcees: What the LifeWay Surveys Reveal About the Church Divorce Gap In 2015, Focus on the Family sponsored LifeWay Research to conduct multiple surveys...
Pastors: Think Twice Before Using Focus on the Family’s Marriage Ministry Materials
Pastors: Think Twice Before Using Focus on the Family’s Marriage Ministry Materials I am pro-marriage. I have spent years defending covenant faithfulness, calling out serial...
What the LifeWay Divorce Study Reveals — And Why Focus on the Family Isn’t Talking About It
The LifeWay Divorce Study: What the Data Reveals — And What Focus on the Family Hasn’t Addressed In 2015, LifeWay Research conducted a national survey of 1,000 churchgoers who...
Who’s Speaking in the #GreaterThan Campaign Video—and Why Context Matters
Who Is Speaking—and Why This Context Matters The #GreaterThan campaign is a coordinated media and messaging effort launched in January 2026 in response to Obergefell v. Hodges....
#GreaterThan Campaign Video: Full Transcript with Speakers Identified
#GreaterThan Campaign Video Full Transcript with Speakers Identified and Timestamps This transcript is provided for documentation and reference only. Its inclusion here does not...
What Focus on the Family’s 2025 Marriage Report Gets Wrong About Divorce, Faith, and Abuse
What Focus on the Family’s 2025 Marriage Report Gets Wrong About Divorce, Faith, and Abuse An abuse-informed review of the State of the Family: Marriage Health in America report...
I Wish I’d Left Sooner: What Parents Learned About Divorce and Kids
“I Wish I’d Left Sooner”: What Parents Say About Timing Their Divorce When Kids Are Involved One of the hardest questions parents in destructive marriages ask is: “Should I wait...
New Study Shows Kids of Divorce Rarely Face Teen Pregnancy, Jail, or Early Death
New Study Shows Kids of Divorce are Unlikely to Have Teen Pregnancy, Incarceration or Early Mortality EDITED 8-14-2025 If you have the older yellow graph, please use this blue...
There Is No Divorce Crisis — There Is a Marriage-Endangering Sin Crisis
If you're new to my blog, read this first. I'm a committed Christian who started leading Christian divorce recovery groups in Evangelical churches in 1998. I write about...