[en] The photodestruction of molecular hydrogen is reexamined in the context of recent observational data. Improvements in the theory of radiation transfer are made by (1) using a more accurate self-shielding integral; (2) treating anisotropic scattering by dust grains; and (3) including photodissociation from excited rotational states. The total column density of hydrogen required to obtain 10% conversion decreases with a parameter epsilon, the ratio of the formation rate to the destruction rate, as epsilon^-/sup m/, with m in the range 1.4--1.6. Satisfactory agreement with the data for thicker diffuse clouds is obtained for epsilonapprox.6 x 10^-5