[madprof98]

You can't explain, "He contracted HIV from sleeping around with trash of mixed gender," to a 7-year-old. All the child understands is that one parent is gone, he's probably had to move away from his school and his friends, his mother has no money, etc.

By the time the child "understands," he or she has already repeated (or worse) the behaviors which led the marriage to collapse to begin with.

[Tax-chick]

That's a good point. An early example of alcoholism or abuse seems to have a very strong influence. In that situation, whether the parents divorce or not, it's a losing proposition for the children.