Divorce And Its Effects On 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.

Divorce can have a significant impact on the children involved in many different ways. Studies show that the effects of divorce on children can also continue throughout adulthood. These children are more likely to have failed marriages themselves, have children out of wedlock, and earn lower salaries. It is common for the depression of the parents and their relationship to pass on to their child. Children who grow up with depression symptoms are more likely to eventually experience divorce in their own marriage. Research also shows that teenagers who experience divorce are 50 percent more likely to abuse alcohol than those of “Two-parent homes”.

Divorce is a serious matter in this time and day. To children, divorce is their world shattering before their eyes. Some children try to see the positive aspects of divorce such as more family gatherings and more Christmas gifts, but most children seem to look at the negative aspects. Divorce affects children differently and they have their own way of coping with it.

50% of all the children born to married parents today, will experience the divorce of their parents’ before they are eighteen years old. Divorce in and of itself doesn’t necessarily harm a child, but the conflict between parents does. A child’s behavior correlates directly with the effects of their parents’ separation. Deep emotional wounds are created before, during, and after divorce and separation. It is rare that you find a child that actually wants their parents to separate, unless the marriage was full of intense conflict and anger. Parents going through a divorce don’t always think about how their child is going to be impacted by it. Children suffer when their parents go through a separation. Divorce increases the risk of psychological and behavioral problems, it makes way for difficulties in the classroom, and the emotional well-being of the child is in danger.

“Divorce isn’t a child's fault; I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me”- Kurt Cobain. More than 30 years of research is continued to reveal the sides of divorce and the effects it has on children. The risks is steady rising, and just because you think that the effects won’t occur to your child the odds do greatly increase.

The Effects Of Divorce On Children begin long before parents physical separate, Theses effects are primarily the result of family dysfunction and economic stress. The typical youngsters feel torn in two after a divorce, particularly in case of joint custody where they must physically bounce back and forth between two house its hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye all the time says jill krementz (Zinsmeister 3). The children have to go through many changes when their parents get a divorce their feelings really be hurt. The Effects Of Divorce On Children changes their grades suffer, have behavior problems, and family issues.

In the world today, divorce has become more and more relevant, as many people of all ages are more open to the idea of ending their marriages and starting over. In fact, according to the article “Children Divorce Statistics”, it quotes from Furstenberg and others that “50% of all North-American children will witness the divorce of their parents. Almost half of them will also see the breakup of a parent's second marriage” (Bloem 1). With the divorce rate going up, the effects of the separation must be acknowledged. The stress and change of a divorce of two parents on children, especially older, causes many development issues, such as depression, anger management problems and anti-social disorder, which may

In the following paper, the various consequential effects of divorce upon children and adolescents and their development will be examined. The main purpose of this review is to determine the effects of the effects of the growing epidemic of divorce, what is happening to our children when they confront the reality of divorce, how we can plan for the future where growth is redirected by divorce, and how the world may prepare for a population where over half of children will experience divorce. No matter the stage or direction of development, divorce may have an effect on the child’s natural path of growth psychologically. However, with the help of many different studies that range from religious adjustment, to physical health, to a father’s well being in relation with a child’s well being, this review pinpoints the most crucial elements of divorce in the modern day and the subsequent effects upon children’s psychological development.

The question continues to be asked, “Is divorce harmful for children?” Everyone wants their children to be happy; however how does one decide when to choose their own happiness over their child’s? With divorce, parents have to choose to leave their partner even if it is detrimental to their children’s happiness. Over the years, divorce rates continue to increase. The reasons for divorce varies from each couple. However, in all cases it is true that the children involved do not get to decide the outcome. Divorce comes with many other factors that affect the child involved. While some experience increases of stress, decreases of parental competence and parental loss in general; these factors lead to a child having mental and emotional distress (Hughes 2009). Even though each differing factor can lead to distress within the child, the exposure to the marital conflict caused by divorce harms the child the most. Emotional and mental distress from marital conflict in divorce is caused by loss of security, emotional disorders, and disconnections with other relationships.

Did you know the U.S Census Bureau found that forty-one percent of marriages end in divorce? Did you also know the divorce rate among couples with children is forty percent lower than couples without children. Sadly according to http://1.usa.gov/1dMPvI2, forty-three percent of children growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers. Seventy-five percent of children with divorced parents live with their mother. Twenty-eight percent of children living with a divorced parent live in a household with an income below the poverty line. Finally, half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of these children, close to half will also see the break up of a parent 's second marriage.

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).

It is no surprise that the rate of divorce in the world has been climbing steadily. Ever since the 1970’s the rate of divorce has risen exponentially. While the traumas of divorce are ever present for the couple splitting up, has anyone thought about how this effects their children? It often seems that children are placed on the back burner, when it comes to marital issues, and treated as collateral damage in their parents’ whirlwind issues. In this paper, I will be focusing on how divorce negatively affects the children, and the strain that is placed upon them, and the current rates at which people are ending their marriages.

Over the past few decades, the divorce rate has exponentially increased throughout America. Many Americans have developed a new definition of family due to the rapidly changing culture of our times. These culture and value changes have drastically brought a change to the traditional ideas of the past resulting in many different changes within the nuclear family of the past. Divorce has become rampant amongst the American population, which is causing many Sociological problems to those that have to go through the depressing and saddening stages of stress, especially to the children of whose parents are divorced. “At present, 60-75% of divorces involve children under the age of 18”(Lansford, 2009). Many children have to experience the distress of divorce and it affects them in many ways such as mentally, physically, economically, which brings them great difficulty in their lives.

Most researchers agree that a parental divorce leads to a greater chance of negative developmental outcomes in children. A negative developmental outcome is determined through factors such as: externalizing

Divorce incidents have jumped over 127% in the last sixteen years according to the article “Which Aspects of Divorce Affect Children” (Luepnitz 1). With the number increasing each year, over a million American children suffer the divorce of their parents. Divorce causes irreparable harm to all involved, but most especially to the children. Though it might be shown to benefit individuals, it causes a decrease in an individual’s quality of life and puts some on a downward trajectory from which they might never fully recover. A child’s education, relationships and health are adversely affected when parental divorce occurs.