Effects on Children of Divorced Parents
Kenneth Sepulveda
ENG/135
February 22, 2014
Valerie Carnevale
DeVry University
Effects on Children of Divorced Parents
Divorce can be a traumatic experience for children to go through when separations occurs. The effects on children are by far the most significant factors, sometimes resulting in behavioral disorders and developmental issues, as a result of alternating between households, economic instability, and behavioral related issues. However, children of divorced parents could be helped when parents place their children first, develop communication and problem solving skills and use family programs to help their children deal with life altering changes.
Parents that relocate after a
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Children face different hurdles when parents move or remarry after a divorce, for this reason, parents must continually talk with their children and provide emotional care needed to eliminate stress related factors when they arise. The American Psychological Association (APA) (2003) study explains how divorced parents who move in greater distances of an hour from each other can negatively impact children’s emotional and social skills (APA, 2003). Moreover, parents who relocate have less money to visit with their children during visitation. As a result, children experience emotional disorders that cause interpersonal relationship issues with the non-custodial parent because of their economic instability (APA, 2003). Therefore, parents need to factor in all consequences associated with divorce and remain cognizant of how it impacts their children’s lives. Uphold-Carrier & Utz (2012) explain that teenagers or adult children were more likely to be at a higher threat of depression contrast to those, where the mother and father stayed together in the same home (Uphold-Carrier & Utz, 2012). Moving to a different household and leaving friends and family ties can become very stressful for any child, especially if that child has lived in the same home all of their life. Uphold-Carrier & Utz (2012) also point out that children
Divorce is one of the most common happenings in the world experienced by children. Most children go through different adjustments to become comfortable with the fact that their parents are not together anymore. Children of divorced parents are prone to lifelong effects. Seventy-five to eighty percent of children have divorced parents and twenty-five percent of those children have serious social, emotional, or psychological problems for the rest of their life. Most adults think that it is best for parents to stay together for the sake of their child because having two parents in different households can become difficult for the child socially and academically.
and their world. He or she may be uprooted to a new school, city or
Amato, Paul R., and Bruce Keith. "Parental Divorce and the Well-Being of Children: A Meta-Analysis." Journal of Marriage and the Family 110.1 (1991): 26-46. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
In years past, the American Dream for most young girls’ is to grow up and be married to Prince Charming and to “Live Happily Ever After!” Although this may be expected - it is rarely fulfilled. Marriage is the legal and binding union between a man and woman. Yet when couples marry, they vow to stay by their partner’s side ‘till death do us part.’ Currently that vow seems to have little or no value in today’s society. The current statistics for survival of marriage are quite grim. The divorce rate in the United States is somewhere between 50 percent and a startling 67 percent. (KSL News) One contributing factor the growing epidemic of divorce is the parting of different family
The impact of divorce on children has been associated with lower academic scores, behavioral difficulties, and depression. Therefore, it is important to make compromises that benefit the
With the large and growing number of divorce rates, research is now discussing the effects it has on the children of divorced parents. Now divorce does not just impact the individuals going through it, but their children as well. Not only do children have to live with one or the other parent, have shared custody, or various other living arrangements that may change, but their entire life that they knew changes. Research is
The rapid epidemic of divorce in the United States within the last 20 years has affected more than one half of the families in the United States. In the past, we have viewed divorce as a short term crisis and not as a longitudinal view of the effects divorce might bring. Divorce does affect children. However, it is not the divorce that is the problem; it is the ongoing conflict between the parents and the child’s coping mechanisms in their own stages of development. Counseling, family therapy, and also having a divorce mediation are all successful ways of coping with the family.
Divorce causes many problems for children and has many implications. Psychological implications include mental health problems and behavioral problems. Social roles are turned inside out and upside down. Children are often pulled in many directions. In the United States divorce is very common and often leaves children confused and without options. Many turn toward violence, crime, drugs, and isolation. Studies show how adults can reduce the tension for these children. Other
A comprehensive review of research from several disciplines regarding long-term effects of divorce on children yields a growing consensus that significant numbers of children suffer for many years from psychological and social difficulties associated with continuing and/or new stresses within the post divorce family and experience heightened anxiety in forming enduring attachments at later developmental stages including young adulthood. Different conceptual models in the field are explicated. Major lacunac in research, particularly around issues of public policy, are identified. The critical importance of expanding clinical research to enhance understanding of the child's perspective and experience is proposed.
According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology, one half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. With these one million children are affected each year. Eighty five percent of these children live in single parent households, with the mother being the head of the house. The father is usually distant or does not speak to the children at all. These children are highly affected and experience a great deal of emotional and academic problems. Especially when you compare them to children with non-divorced parents. During adolescence, these children have twice as high as a rate of dropping out of high school, having teenage pregnancy, and experiencing deliquiate behavior. I am not a child of divorce, but a child dear to me is. I have seen firsthand the emotional tear that it can play into a child’s life, and the way it affects a family. Divorce may cause children to grow up anxious and scared. Children may even ask themselves “why me?”, “what can I do?”, and “where should I go from here?”.
Divorce has enormous obstacles in child’s life As mentioned in the book that 50% of marriages end in divorce, with just over 60% of American children living in married couple-household (Casey foundation, 2008).these problems Start from trust, aggressive behavior, crying, short-term anxiety. We do need to do more to help those children and assess them to the right direction.
Divorce is a very harsh and challenging thing, especially on children. In today’s society, it is very common. It takes hard work and determination to keep a marriage going strong. It is also something that both spouses have to work at every day. Children grow up seeing their mom and dad together, and they become immune to it. When suddenly one day their parents are no longer together, there can be long term and short term effects on the child. Effects of a divorce on children include depression and anxiety, separation from one or both parents, and lastly, stepfamilies.
Divorce is a stressful events that can lead to an unfolding of failures to resolve developmental tasks and increase susceptibility to mental health problems and impairment in developmental competencies. Studies has indicate that post-divorce stressors have a more important influence on children's mental health because of stressful interactions between children and their environment as the family restructures following parental separation. However, not every child is affected equally by these stressors, and understanding their differential effects is an important research issue. The strategies that children use to cope are one likely source of children's differential vulnerability to the effects of stress.
These include academic deterioration, antisocial and delinquent behaviors, anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. Early promiscuity, relationship difficulties, and illicit drug use are also noted. Other studies correlate resiliency in adulthood as one product of living in a conflictual family system”(Rich et al., 2007 p.164). The effects of divorce vary depending on the situation and the child. “Hess and Camara found that many children of divorce suffer severe emotional consequences such as depression, anger, anxiety, and withdrawal, any of which, if prolonged, can have a negative impact on the child’s overall emotional development. It is also reported adjustment problems in the area of cognitive, emotional, and social development among children of divorce as well. In addition, parental separation has been found to be particularly stressful for adolescents”(Bornstein and Walters, 1988 p.248).
Divorce and its effects on children are common issues that are on the rise in the world today. Divorce affects more than just the married couple. Children often bear the brunt of divorce, which makes divorce a complicated decision for most parents. Understanding the effects divorce has on a child is important to know exactly why a child acts a certain way. A divorce can affect a child psychologically, intellectually, and even behaviorally. Children can suffer physiologically from things like depression, intellectually by having trouble in school and behaviorally by having trouble in social settings. Legally, a divorce is a single event, but from a psychological standpoint, it is a complicated,