Effects of Divorce 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 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.

When a person starts considering marriage, that person is looking for the marriage to last for a life time. That person thinks that they have found their soulmate in life, the person they want to spend eternity with. Maybe one day start a family with and start a life of their own together. What someone thinks is the perfect marriage or perfect relationship for them could turn out to be the exact opposite. What they thought was a nice a person turned out to be an abuser or someone that was not ready for a big commitment like marriage. Therefore, their relationship turned into a divorce. About 25% of the children in the US live with a single parent (1 Bernet). Now if its just the two adults in the relationship,

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.

Divorce has become an unquestionable remedy for the miserably married. Currently, the United States has the highest divorce rate in the world. Every year in the US approximately one million children experience divorce which, is about one in every three children (Amato 21). The effects of divorce can be tremendously painful for both children

Social scientists are becoming more concerned about how divorce effects children. Today, more than one out of four U.S families is a single-parent family and half of all children will become stepchildren. Our textbook states that 60 percent of divorces involve children but couples with children divorce less than couples without children. Children from a divorced family can suffer from interpersonal and psychological problems as well as emotional distress. Research by Heather Westberg, Thorana Nelson and Kathleen Piercy indicates that children’s reaction to divorce is influenced by how the news is delivered and is shaped by the perception that life at home will be better or worse afterward. Data collected over a 12 year period studied parent-child relationships before and after divorce showing that marital conflict may intensify children’s behavior problems making them

In addition to divorce, parents often get remarried and the children gain a step-mom and/or step-dad. Parents too often assume that remarrying and adding another parent figure and siblings will help children through the separation. The main issue here is that many times, children display aggression toward these new members due to feelings of replacement. These kids may not be as trustworthy along with refusing to obey at home, school, work or the other household. Commonly, after the original divorce and up to five years after remarriage, children start to accept the situation for what it is and some of the psychological effects such as depression reduce (Hetherington 220). Divorce can cause both mental and physical effects on children. Children of separated parents also have a higher risk of suicide and a higher risk of health problems along with those psychological and emotional issues (Fagan

“In 2009, there were close to 50,000 divorces granted, with nearly 25,000 of those involving children under 18 years of age” (Coulson). Children under the age of 18 are dramatically affected by divorce because they are just learning about relationships themselves. This can give them a negative start to their own relationships, because what they have seen from their parents. Children who see their parent's relationships fail may have them believe that their relationships will fail too. Children do not understand why their parents are separating because it is something they are not familiar with. They begin to question if it is their fault, which is never something parents want to be asked by their children. Even though divorce is something

“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.

While divorce may reduce strain on a failing marriage, it may cause damaging effects on the children. Often times parents are too concerned on the marriage to notice the effects on children. From the way parents react in front of the children to new marriages all can directly affect the daily lives, and behavior of children. Though, there are ways to mitigate some of the issues that can come with divorce, possibly avoiding some of the effects all together.

The current divorce rate suggests that one out of every two marriages will end in divorce. This paper is a critical literature review that explores the hypothesis that divorce has detrimental effects on children. Six different risks have been suggested to cause the differences in an increased need for help between divorced family children and two-parent family children: parental loss, economic loss, more life stress, poor parental adjustment, lack of parental competence, and exposure to conflict between parents. This paper examines the research on how divorce negatively effects children, and explores the unanswered question of how it effects them through young adulthood.

Divorce rates soared to their highest level ever, with 5.3 per 1,000 people getting divorced each year, more than double the rate in the 1950’s (Jefferson). Divorce affects children tremendously because it is very stressful for them. Most children whose parents divorce have a extremely hard time during the transition of the divorce, It is usually really hard on them. Divorce just takes a big toll on children, They feel like a part of them is gone. Some of the statistics fail to show the personal impact that divorce has on the individual and the children also. The short term and long term effects of divorce on children can result in behavior, anger, and self esteem problems.

Thesis: Children of divorce are negatively affected academically, emotionally and romantically due to circumstances that prohibit to continue their normal daily lives.

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.

Not only can a divorce strain a child emotionally but, it even affects them financially. “Because the custodial parent 's income drops substantially after a divorce, children in divorced homes are almost five times more likely to live in poverty than are children with married parents.” Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), p. 82