Divorce Dehumanization Effects On Children

Children of divorce are numerous, the effects of their biological parents separation and subsequent divorce has lasting effects on their behavior, academics, and their emotions. No one seems to care about the prevalence of divorce in society today; it is no longer considered taboo.

Divorce, a very controversial issue in today’s society, has glaring effects on society as well as individuals. Approximately half of all marriages will end in divorce, resulting in close to one million children per year struggling to deal with the aftermath (Fischer 2007). Parental divorce has been proven to have long-term negative effects on adult mental health (Chase-Lansdale, Cherlin Kiernan 1995). Divorce was at its highest rate in the early 1980s. The first group of children to be affected by these very high divorce rates entered adulthood in the 1990s allowing sociological research to begin on the adverse affects associated with divorce over the span of different ages. Until this time, a lot of research focused on short-term effects surrounding

For the past decades, divorce has been increasing dramatically throughout the United States; it is a common issue in this society. Approximately one million children experience divorce or parental separation every year(Shinoda, Kevin Seiji, 2001, La Mirada, pg. 9). According the 2000 census data, about 28% of divorce or separated parents, have at least one children who is under age of 6(Kim Leon Jul., 2003 pg. 258). Also, slightly more than half of all divorced children are under the age of 18, and about 40% of all children will experience divorce or parental separation before reaching adulthood(Shinoda, Kevin Seiji, 2001, La Mirada, pg. 9). Divorces strongly affect the development of children, and most of time, problems

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).

Fagan, Patrick F. and Robert Rector. "The Effects of Divorce on America." World & I, vol. 15, no. 10, Oct. 2000, p. 56. EBSCOhost, fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=3628746&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 March 2017. Fagan and Rector discuss the many issues divorce can have on a child. They argue that when it comes to divorce, there are primarily negative outcomes for the child involved. Children who are victims of a divorced family have an increased chance to abuse drugs and become involved in crime. These children also have a higher rate of living in poverty, being undereducated, and becoming psychologically

Most researchers look at how children react and are effected when they experience parental divorce. Divorce is looked at as something “bad” for everyone who is effected by the situation. Divorce in the United States has the highest rate in the world. Over one million people a year get divorced and sixty percent of those divorces effect children (article 2). At the time of the divorce it seems like a horrible experience but, people never think about what would happen if the marriage stayed the way it was. Couples get divorced for many different reasons it could be because there was abuse, fighting, cheating and even if the couple was just no longer in love. “Children appear to be better off in cases in which the divorce substantially reduces

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.

Through the emotional, spiritual, and psychological effects children experience during a divorce, spiritual distress and uncertainty, fears of commitment and abandonment, and disassociation from relationships manifest themselves in these children. Approximately one million children experience a parental divorce every year (Warner et al), experiencing a variety of positive and negative consequences. Since divorce causes the couples’ pain, they may become absorbed with their own problems, though they continue to be the most significant characters in their children’s lives (“Divorce and Children”). Through the lens of divorce, the journey of maturity acquires a distinct difference in experiences.

The article begins by explaining the 1970’s concept of a “no-fault divorce”. This was the belief that children will not be negatively impacted by divorce if both parents act civil towards one another. However, it continues on to explain the findings of Judith Wallerstein who thoroughly studied the effects of divorce on children. She was not only the first scientist to listen to what the children had to say, but also considered the long-term effects. She concluded that these effects last well on into a person's life and are clearly evident when the child reaches a point in their life where they are searching for intimacy (usually the mid 20’s). It was found that the children had grown to be scared of intimacy and commitment, fearful that they will have the same fate as their parents. Their subconscious is constantly worried that their relationships will result in the same kind of heartbreak that their parents did. For this reason, they are also less likely to want children out of fear of putting the child through what they had to go through. Additionally, they had difficulty enjoying themselves in any relationship because of the psychological impact their parents divorce had on them. They had never suspected what had happened with their parents and so in a means of self-protection, it’s as if their brains do not allow them to enjoy themselves too much because it is constantly worried that all of a sudden something bad will happen and ruin that joy. The article also mentioned that children of divorce were more likely to do drugs, have premarital sex and drop-out of highschool. It also blames society for the view it has set on marriage and divorce. It claims that today’s society has warped the meaning of marriage to be something more self-centred and glamorous than it really is. It fails to acknowledge that marriage involves procreation and the

In the last two decades divorce has increased substantially leaving couples single and families broken. Divorce is the reality for many families as there is an increase in divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families. Divorce cannot be overlooked as it negatively affects and impacts youngsters for the rest of their lives. Although it is the decision between two parents’s children are hurt the most in the process. The concept of divorce is extremely difficult for children to understand as there are many unanswered questions and uncertainties. “Will my mom or dad remarry and who will I live with?” are concerns children express while going through divorce. Many

Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1

Divorce has become a natural aspect of today’s culture, and formidable divorce rates are drastically impacting children, causing them to lose many vital components of a stable childhood. A broken family will become a normal circumstance for that child and they may fall in the same trap later in life (WF—Lawyers np). Divorce can occur for many reasons, such as lack of commitment, constant arguments, and early marriage (WF—Lawyers np). These problems take a role in the majority of divorces, however, solving these major issues through fixing broken relationships has its benefits. Society, unfortunately, shows us that we must replace broken items rather than fix them. Maintaining healthy households and strong family values through the mending