divorce signals the welcome end to being witness to a very dysfunctional relationship. A national sample conducted by sociologists Paul Amato and Alan Booth(1997) found that in about a third of divorces, the children benefit from parental separation because it lessens their exposure to conflict. But in about 70 percent of all divorces, they found that the parents engaged in a low level of conflict in these cases, the realities divorce appear of to be harder for the children to bear than living with the marital unhappiness. Other researchers, using differing definitions of conflict, have found greater unhappiness for children living in homes with marital differences. Still, it would be simplistic to assume that children are automatically better off following the breakup of their parents' marriage. Clearly, the interests of the parents do not necessarily serve children well.