Divorce Recovery Index
Published research on how people going through divorce are actually doing.
Divorce is one of the most common difficult experiences in adult life, and almost nobody measures it. Rebuilders International publishes adjustment data drawn from tens of thousands of assessments completed by people seeking divorce recovery support.
Everything here is free to cite, published with the number of people behind it, and permanent at its original address.
People are arriving in worse shape every year.
Adjustment among people seeking divorce recovery has fallen three years running, across five of the six areas we measure. The index stood at 64.6 in 2023, 61.6 in 2024, and 59.2 in 2025.
The annual reports
2025
3,628 PEOPLE
Three years of decline. Half the population was left rather than leaving, and the gap between the two is almost entirely about letting go — not anger.
Read the 2025 report →2024
1,301 PEOPLE
Two in five had been married over twenty-one years. Stay-at-home parents scored lower than any other group we measure.
Read the 2024 report →Both editions released September 2026 as the first two reports in an annual series. The 2026 edition publishes in January 2027.
What we measure
Adjustment is reported across the four phases of the RIFT framework, which is how Rebuilders describes recovery after a relationship ends.
Thinking
Disentangling from the former partner
Feelings
Processing grief and anger
Identity
Rebuilding a sense of self
Relationships
Rebuilding trust in others
Full definitions of each phase are on the definitions page.
Where people arrive worst off
| Area of recovery | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence around others | 73% | 64% |
| Letting go of the former partner | 67% | 63% |
| Self-worth | 66% | 61% |
| Grief | 58% | 52% |
| Anger | 57% | 57% |
| Trusting people again | 55% | 52% |
Median score as a share of each area's maximum. Higher indicates better adjustment.
Grief, anger and trust are consistently where people arrive worst off — and they are the areas least helped by the passage of time.
How to read the numbers
The Index runs from 0 to 100, where higher indicates better adjustment, calculated from assessment scores as a share of the maximum possible.
It is not a percentile. An individual's assessment report places that person against others; the Index measures the population as a whole. Both produce numbers between 0 and 100 and they answer different questions.
Who this is for
Clinicians and coaches
A reference point for where a client sits relative to others going through the same thing — and, through the segment norms in each annual report, relative to people in the same position rather than the population at large.
Journalists and researchers
A consistently measured source on a subject with very little data behind it. Every figure carries its sample size, the method is published rather than summarised, and the findings are free to cite.
People going through a divorce
This is written mainly for professionals. If you are going through a divorce yourself, the assessment behind this research is free and will tell you where you actually stand, which is more useful to you than a population average. rebuilders.net
Method
The research draws on two assessments: the Fisher Divorce Adjustment Scale, a 100-item instrument developed in 1976 and independently validated in several countries, and the Divorce Recovery Scorecard, a 24-item short form built from the same questions.
Published reports
Every report below is permanent and remains available at its original address.
Is it worse to be left, or to leave?
by: Kevin Van LierePublished on: 15/09/2026People who were left score at the 28th percentile on divorce adjustment; people who left score at the 49th. The gap lives in one place only.
Rebuilders International
Empowering professionals to guide individuals through transformative recovery and rebuilding processes.
For Professionals
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