Clearly divorce has a large impact on the children. There is some disagreement in the research literature as to how much of an impact it makes. Is it a transient stressor that will lose its negative impact after the children and parents adjust to their new life? Or does divorce cause long term damage? There is a fair amount of data that shows that over time, children of divorce do not look much different from children of married couples on many psychological measures. However, there is also data that show children do exhibit an increase of emotional and behavioral difficulties when their parents get divorced. It is therefore useful to ask what factors are protective for children of divorce and what factors are most harmful.