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Olympia, Washington (CNN) -- The news that Al and Tipper Gore are breaking up after 40 years of marriage has generated an outpouring of emotion. Although we don't have -- and shouldn't seek -- the inside details, the couple says the decision was mutual and the process will be mutually supportive. Friends have told journalists that no third party was involved; the two simply grew apart.It leads couples to wonder: "Could this happen to us?" or "Could it already be happening to us?"

The impact of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique on American women has been hotly debated ever since the book hit the best-seller lists in 1963. In the last year, Friedan's legacy has been the target of yet another round of attacks, prompted by the finding that women in the United States and most of Europe now report themselves slightly less happy and satisfied with their lives than they did 35 years earlier, while men report themselves happier now than in the past.

The impact of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique on American women has been hotly debated ever since the book hit the best-seller lists in 1963. In the last year, Friedan's legacy has been the target of yet another round of attacks, prompted by the finding that women in the United States and most of Europe now report themselves slightly less happy and satisfied with their lives than they did 35 years earlier, while men report themselves happier now than in the past.

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.