While it is commonly assumed that marital therapists define their tasks as preserving marriages, most traditionally trained marriage therapists espouse a more neutral role: that is, facilitating a constructive resolution to the marital problem, whether or not that resolution ends up entailing divorce. Despite this professed ideal of neutrality, it is doubtful that marital therapists can avoid influencing the decision making process of those they counsel. This study assessed whether there are differences between the marital therapy intervention preferences of male and female therapists, and how such differences relate to knowledge about the effects of divorce on children. Since the perceived harmfulness of divorce may affect how marital counseling is done, this study predicted a relationship between therapists' beliefs about divorce consequences and their intervention preferences. A 2-part questionnaire, assessing marital therapy intervention preferences and therapists' knowledge about the effects of divorce on children, was completed by 15 male and 22 female marital therapists. Results revealed that both male and female therapists made use of similar counseling strategies. However, male therapists were significantly more inclined to make comments inducing a favorable attitude toward divorce. The observed gender differences may be partially attributable to demographic differences across the sexes. Contains five references. (RJM)