Divorce And Its Effects On Children

The statistics for divorce in the 1990's suggest that nearly sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. Given this startling figure, the assumption can be made that many children will experience some effects caused by the life-changing event called divorce. What is it exactly about divorce that causes negative consequences for these children? In what ways will these children be effected? Will these effects show outwardly? I will attempt to uncover some of the complexities surrounding these psychological questions in the following text. The unsettling fact is: young children of divorced parents face great psychological challenges due to the environmental conditions and changes associated with divorce (Wolchik and Karoly 45).

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

Divorce is comparable to an epidemic since it has been filtering through many societies at an increasingly alarming rate. According to the most current statistic, there are more than 2.1 million marriages in the United States (“Children of Divorced Parents”). Out of those, almost half end in divorce. Divorce nowadays is extremely common. In fact, in America there is one divorce every thirty-six seconds (National Marriage and Divorce Rate Trends”). Each year over a million American children suffer from the divorce of their parents (Amato 24-26). Even though it might be shown to benefit some individuals in their own personal case, for the majority it causes a decrease in an individual’s life and puts many people “on a downward trajectory from which they might never fully recover” (Amato). Over long term, the United States divorce rate has been on a rise since 1980, which means more children being affected (Macionis). These children that are affected are faced by emotions of anger, confusion and even fear. These emotions affect their academic performance, social interactions, behavior, self-esteem and other negative effects. This literature review is important in calling attention on the current research studying impacts of divorce on children. The topic of divorce is a wide-ranging topic. However, this particular literature review focuses only on the effects that divorce has on children. The data presented in this paper is collected from

Divorce has many victims; they do not fall under a specific category and do not target a specific gender, age, race, or ethnicity. The effect of divorce on children differs from the effect on the spouses. The reasons for divorce are endless; they have many side effects on the spouses but most importantly affect the children. Divorce is one of the main reasons for disruption in our communities. Regardless of the reason, divorce always harms the children’s decisions, personalities, and futures.

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?”.

The occurrence on divorce in our society today has left children emotionally and mentally hurt by this. More and more studies have been done on to see if divorce has an effect on children. I personally have had no effect of divorce, but I have had several friends who have been affected. I had little knowledge about how impactful divorce can have an affect on someone until I started doing research on this topic. Divorce is very hard on people who have to deal with this. The articles I have found to do research on all have something new and exciting to bring to the table. Of the ones I have found, I believe they will help me to understand more of the struggles young children have to cope with during such a difficult time. I also found an interesting article about the fathers’ perspectives on divorce. It talked about how they still want to be apart of their children’s lives and how hard it is to keep a strong relationship with their children. I felt like it would be good to include this article into my paper because it will help me to learn from the fathers’ side how they handle the situation. Throughout this paper, I disused the different effects divorce has on children, the various programs and coping strategies for the children, and fathers’ perspectives and mother-child relationships. All of these topics are very important to divorce and the articles from the researchers did a great job of talking about these topics.

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.

In modern time, divorce is something that is gradually becoming more popular throughout America’s society. Healthy marriages are not only beneficial for a married couple but also for the children as growing up in a happy home protects children from mental, physical, educational and social problems (“Marriage and divorce”). There are numerous findings that point to the negative effects that divorce can have on a child’s life. Divorce has been shown to cause emotional and psychological strain for a young person. Specifically, children often experience heightened feelings of abandonment and isolation after a parental separation. Another aspect of divorce that has been shown to impact adolescents is a decline in schoolwork. Children also experience

Divorce is the act by which a valid marriage is dissolved, usually freeing the parties involved to remarry… (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013). A divorce generally has a negative association with children and brings about a massive change in the life of any child regardless of his or her age. The stress of commuting back and forth between households, the consistent absence of one parent while staying with the other and seeing the loss of love and commitment between them can be something quite devastating. Researchers have also shown that children of divorce have a disadvantage when it comes to many of life outcomes when compared to children with married biological parents (Kim, 2011).

Many studies have shown that the effects of divorce on children are hard to handle. In some cases, they are extreme and require counselling and therapy to help. In other cases, the child doesn’t even realize anything is wrong or is too young to understand it. Divorce causes many different types of issues in the parents; including depression. Which then in turn, affects the children. Divorce has many life changing effects on the whole entire family. Studies have proven that there are many negative effects on children as a result of divorce. With that being said, some of those effects range from short-term to long-term.

The concept of divorce is entrenched in the very idea of marriage. The possibility of marriages breaking down has increased considerably with some statistics placing the rate at 50% of all marriages. Divorce is a legal term that represents the separation of two people who had previously entered into a marriage agreement. While the prevalence of divorce is astonishing, the effect these instances have on families is critical. Many of the people who are divorced have children, whom the divorce affects considerably. Divorce has various components and different perspectives offer varied insights into how and why divorce occurs.

Many times when people get a divorce they tend to not take into consideration about their kids, whether they are five, ten, or seventeen. They go along with the divorce not realizing that this poor child 's life is about to be turned upside down. Divorcing someone, while children are involved affects the way children develop to become adults. It can scare them, when they grow up to be parents one day, or they may even not want to be parents one day because all of the things they had to go through when their parents were getting a divorce. Kids absorb and acknowledge what is going on around them regardless of their age, which is why when divorces occur the atomosphy is very unsettle.

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,

Parents’ divorce has both short- and long-term effects on children. Some short-term effects include (1) children might feel guilty or responsible for the divorce, (2) they may become increasingly aggressive, violent and/or uncooperative, lashing out at both parents, (3) may become emotionally needy out of fear of being abandoned, (4) may lose the ability to concentrate which could then affect academic performance, and (5) may develop intense feelings of grief and loss. Although many of the effects of divorce on children are short term after which they fade once the child has time to adjust to the new family situation and all the changes that have occurred, there are many cases where the effects may be long term. The children of divorced parents may be more likely to: (1) be less educated, (2) experience poverty and/or socio-economic disadvantage, (3) exhibit anti-social behaviour as well as other behavioural problems, (4) suffer from drug and/or alcohol addictions, and (5) experience separation and/or divorce themselves.