Effects Of Divorce On Children

Every year more than half of all marriages between a male and female end in divorce (Weaver & Schofield, 2015), and data from the 1990 census states that over one million children experienced parental divorce (Amato, Sep. 2001). Compared to the 1960s 90 percent of children in the US grew up with two biological parents. Today that figure is only 40 percent (Bryner, 2001). Clearly, the prevalence of divorce should be a concern for the adults who live and work with the children who are affected by this phenomenon.

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

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).

Divorce is a heavy concept that has many implications for those involved. The situation becomes even more consequential when children are considered. As divorce has become more commonplace in society, millions of children are affected by the separation of the nuclear family. How far-reaching are these effects? And is there a time when divorce is beneficial to the lives of the children? This paper will examine some of the major research and several different perspectives regarding the outcomes of divorce for the children involved, and whether it can actually be in the best interest of the kids.

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.

Among industrialized countries, the highest divorce rate is in the United States, where about half of all first marriages end in divorce and more than a million children experience their parents’ divorce each year. During the '80s and '90s numerous examinations in different fields researched the inquiry whether there is a negative impact of this procedure on kids. Albeit most investigations demonstrated that separation has negative effect on kids, there are a wide range of elucidations about the outcomes of this circumstance on kids, particularly about the force of the impact, regardless of whether the negative effect is emerging from the separation itself or from the procedure, and whether this procedure can entirely be useful for the children in a few circumstances. Notwithstanding the negative impacts of the separation itself on youngsters, we ought to consider additionally the negative consequences for kids coming about because of the contention between the guardians, which is every now and again terrible and unpleasant. There is presumably that extensive losses of this battle are simply the

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?”.

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?

This scholarly article provides Jeremy Arkes’ findings on the effects of the divorce and separation process on children’s academic achievement and problem behavior over a long period of time, that specific time being about 4 years or so. He first found students’ academic records from four or more years before a separation and then followed them during and after. By doing this the author can examine how children are affected in different periods while seeing exactly what’s being effected in the student’s academic life to the disruption and whether any of the negative effects continue or get better or worse as time goes on. Arkes took a group of seven to fourteen year-olds, and found that the students’ reading test scores are most affected; and for reading comprehension, the negative effects progressed negatively and became worse as time passed from the student’s parents’ divorce.

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

America is the sixth highest country when it comes to divorce, with a statistic of 3.4 divorces in 100 people. These statistics vary on the age and culture of the couple, however, children are a common casualty in these unfortunate circumstances. The emotional influence on children both pre- and post-divorce is difficult to measure due to many variables that need to be considered. The child’s relation with the parents before and after marriage, the age, and location are some examples. Although these articles display data that are used in answering the question, there is some room for a negation on the subject matter. Keeping these in mind, the drawn conclusion of this topic is that the children are usually emotionally affected by divorce, and are burdened with a difficult upbringing due to lifestyle changes that are forced on them after the separation. Every case of separation is different but further research is required by taking in each different variable.

It has been researched by American Psychological Association (2016) that the divorce rate significantly increased among the adolescents over the last a few years. In fact, the great majority of divorcing families generally has one or more underage kids (Gonzalez-Val & Marcen, 2012). Therefore, it is essential to inquire how children are affected by parental divorce and it is parents’ primary responsibility to focus on children’s well-being in the light of the dramatic alterations that those kids are forced to encounter with. Notably, there is a plenty of distinguishing, and mostly adverse, practical and emotional effects that parental divorce bears throughout the children’s lives and general outlook. The problem of increasing rate of divorce damages and jeopardizes children’s emotional development and wholeness of the society, thus this problem can be remedied by changing the concept of divorce in U.S. jurisdictional systems, develop counseling procedure, and by providing financial supporting programs.

Every year, thousands of American children suffer through their parent’s divorce. Divorce hurts everyone involved, but most of the damage falls to the children to bear and can even put their lives at risk. Even though divorce has been shown to help some individuals in a miniscule amount of individual cases, over the large scale of available cases it causes a decrease in the individuals’ quality of life. The changes and effects can scale anywhere from their being to effects to the effects being completely obvious to see. They can develop problems academically, socially and psychologically.

Divorce is a plague that is destroying numerous families across the United States of America. Sadly, when husbands and wives divorce, the children are often caught directly in the middle. Throughout the years divorce has been becoming more and more common. In the 1920's it was a rare find to know a person whom had been divorced, today it is a rarity not to know of one who has been, or will be divorced. Divorce has numerous effects on the structures of families, and many devastating effects on the children that must experience it, although sometimes necessary, divorce radically changes the lives of adolescents and adults alike.