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What's tougher on a teenager: being raised by a single parent or changing schools in the middle of the year? Among women older than 40, who is more likely to be married: college grads or those who didn't finish high school? Which couples older than 50 have the best sex lives?

The historical record isn't pretty. Job and income loss are strongly associated with increases in marital conflict, separation and divorce. During the Great Depression, economic hardship was so severe that many couples could not afford to divorce. But although divorce rates went down, domestic violence and desertion went up. In addition, unemployed men often refused to do housework and child care when their wives went to work, compensating for loss of their "breadwinner" role by insisting on…

HALF a century ago, the conventional wisdom was that having a child was the surest way to build a happy marriage. Women's magazines of that era promised that almost any marital problem could be resolved by embarking on parenthood. Once a child arrives, "we don't worry about this couple any more," an editor at Better Homes and Gardens enthused in 1944.

Husbands do it by gassing up their spouse's car. Wives do it by having a heart-to-heart confessional. Each is expressing intimacy, but in a stereotypical Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus fashion. As Framingham State College sociologist Virginia Rutter notes, "Both men and women value a feeling of closeness with their partner, but they get to that feeling by somewhat different routes." And they often think their partner is taking the wrong route.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique . Today, many social conservatives still blame Friedan and feminism for inducing women to abandon the home for the workplace, thus destabilizing families and placing their children at risk.

In March, comedian Robin Williams and his estranged wife, Marcia Garces Williams, filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage. But tabloids hoping for a juicy celebrity battle may be disappointed. In court papers filed last month, the couple announced they would conduct a collaborative divorce, pledging to be "honest, cooperative and respectful" and to put their children's interests first.