This study examined the relationship of overall family conflict and stress to adult personality development in young adult college students from intact families, as compared to young adults who had experienced childhood parental divorce. Seventy-five students from divorced families and 78 students from intact families completed a screening questionnaire that consisted of a demographic questionnaire and an Index of Family Relations, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). The findings revealed that, when family stress was controlled for, the comparison of young adults from intact and divorced families did not show differences in adult personality as measured by the MMPI-2. In general, family stress was a better predictor of adult personality development than was family structure. The most important finding of the study was that divorce, in and of itself, was not associated with personality maladjustment in all individuals who experienced childhood parental divorce. From a clinical perspective, the results of this study could argue against the view that divorce is inevitably pathological and could suggest that divorce may in fact have positive outcomes in certain situations. (NB)