Divorce Affects Children's Mental Health

This behavior can also put the child or others in physical danger, as well as possibly cause emotional damage to oneself or others. This behavior can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including “prolonged tantrums, physical and verbal aggression, disruptive vocal and motor behavior (screaming), destruction, self-injury, noncompliance, and withdrawal” (Dunlap, 2015). Children who have challenging behavior tendencies often hinder their social and emotional development, since their behaviors often separate themselves from peers, and typically the only peers that will want to be around them are those that struggle with the same negative behavior, thus encouraging and promoting the child to continue to act out. Researchers claim, “Because they’re frequently rejected by their classmates, [children with challenging behavior] have few opportunities to learn and practice social and emotional skills” (Rasminsky, 2015). When a child proves to have many outbursts and can be seen getting in trouble or being violent, their peers will most likely decide not to associate themselves with that child, which causes the child to become more frustrated that no one wants to be around them, while in other cases may cause the child to withdrawal completely. Either way, a child with challenging behavior typically struggles in social settings, as well as confronting and expressing their

Throughout time, people from all over the world have chosen to live together, or “get married”. Marriage is a beautiful thing, but there are some couples who are unable to maintain their relationship, because they choose divorce as a solution to cope with the problems between husband and wife. Although divorce can be solution to cope with problem between the husband and wife, it still has dangerous effects especially on their children. Children with divorced parents are vulnerable to risk. Divorce has a dangerous impact on children. Divorce of parentss causes many problems to children. It causes children to have a loss of Knowledge, skills, and resources from parents, behavioral problems, emotional problem, and health problem

As children grow from adolescence to being an adult, an absence of positive developmental traits is directly linked to one’s behavior. As stated by the American Psychiatric Association, "When individuals with conduct disorder reach adulthood, symptoms of aggression, property destruction, deceitfulness, and rule violation, including violence against co-workers, partners, and children, may be exhibited in the workplace and the home, such that antisocial personality disorder may be considered" (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

All children can be willful, disobedient, and at times destructive; however, there is a fine

According to Ross Greene (2002), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is defined as “recurrent pattern of developmentally inappropirate levels of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures” (p. 1214). Children who are diagnosed with this disorder rebel against most authority and the rules that are set in place. The child will be: quick to throw tantrums, actively and verbally fight with people older than them, disregard any orders or guidelines to be followed, knowingly bother others and their personality may showcase a lot of hate or bitterness. A lot of the times, the child may only misbehave in their homes and show aggression towards their family, while other times, the disorder may develop into a

There are many disorders in which young children go through and have to battle. Popular disorders in which people know that young children go through are ADHD, and ADD. One that society is not really familiar with would be ODD. This disorder is called oppositional defiant disorder. This order related back to children because it goes into great detail about how young children misbehave. According to the American Psychiatric Association oppositional defiant disorder is defined as a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures (Maughan, Development Pathways in Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder). Children can have many life experiences in which they choose to act out and

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.

Not all married couples stay together. It is during such times as divorce that families are torn apart and children become the main victims. Children from families who have experienced divorce are more likely to suffer future health complications compared to those who have not. Studies examined their psychosocial well-being, youth substance abuse, and adult longevity. These studies not only looked into the lives of young children and their future years as adults, but also help provide insights into how to best approach and deal with a sensitive time in their lives.

The dissolution of a marriage not only leaves an impact on the adults in the courtroom but upon the children involved as well. With one in every two marriages ending in divorce, more and more children are left as byproducts of a broken home. The divorce process can be blamed for how children will handle issues both as they mature and after they enter the adult world. This paper will analyze statistics associated with children of divorce, detailing the short term and long term effects that divorce has on children and will discuss what can be done by parents to lessen the impact of divorce on a developing mind.

You can look at someone on the outside and think that everything is okay and they have their life together, but on the inside of that person they feel very different. Today divorce is more common and less stigmatized; it can cause short and long term effects on children, emotional and physical pain, which can also linger into their adulthood. There is a lot of variance in how children respond to divorce, but not only can divorce effect the children who go through it but also the parents of the divorce. Behavioral problems and even health problems can arise in the child due to divorce.

The trauma of divorce brings confusion and struggle to children. Toddlers (2-4yrs) responses to divorce is regression, dependency increases, passivity in some. Yong children (5-8yrs) responses to divorce is regression, guilt, abandonment fears, sadness and fantasy. Old children (9-12) responses to divorce is anger, alienation, disappointment, spiritual disillusionment. Teens (13-19yrs) responses to divorce is resentment, fear, withdrawal, depression, loyalty issues, emotionally drained, peace-keeping. The traumatic long-term effects of divorce may spill over into every aspect of a child’s life including: physical, mental and emotional health issues, learning disabilities, social/relationship problems, drug abuse and addiction,

In the United States alone, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of families are affected by divorce each year. Divorce is a high-stress process which may affect parent’s abilities to provide for their children. Whether there is lack of support emotionally, mentally, financially, or physically; a child can be very critically damaged. A child is continuously developing mentally, emotionally, and academically. There are different stages of adolescence that cause different ages of children to react to divorce in several ways. Children put in these situations have higher risk of suffering academically, mentally, and emotionally. Issues relating to divorce can follow the effected party in to adulthood. They show different forms of behavioral change. The needs for every child can be met through simple changes in lifestyle if the persons involved educate themselves.

One way to view the effects of divorce on children is from a psychological point of view.

In this paper, I will focus on the different ways in which divorce can affect children both socially and mentally. I will discuss how divorce is a process as well as an alternative developmental path that can lead to different outcomes for different children. The questions I will attempt to answer using methods such as focus groups and surveys are: How does divorce affect children overall? What are the factors that contribute to the well-being of children after divorce?

Children need intact families to flourish. It is hard to imagine that if the family is torn apart, a child can simply adjust to a new situation, home, step-parent, siblings, and entire change of life as they know it without suffering significant effects upon their mental health and development lacks. Despite voices that serve to minimize the effects of divorce on children, this paper will show that the negative effects upon their mental health and development are such that the best solution is to avoid divorce all together. According to Stinson and Jones, “well-being on the road to adulthood for both children and teens hinges on family relationships.”