Effects of Divorce on Children

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.

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.

In North America, 50% of children will experience their parents divorce. Married couples get divorced for many reasons. For example, infidelity, being unhappy, and financial problems are some of the few. Children who experience divorce develop many behavioral problems that affect them in the future. No matter what age, adolescents experience feelings of anger, loss, grief, and feeling unloved. However, depending on the age of the child, divorce can cause many diverse problems that affect the child in the future.

Divorce can be problematic for children because the life they are accustomed to is suddenly disrupted. Custody battles,

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.

Divorce affects all the chil­dren in the family at some time whether it affects them a lot or a little. Some effects of divorce form right after the sepa­ration and some effects form over the first few years following the divorce and then go back down. There are many factors that lead to negative effects on children. For example, children tend to feel like they have more responsibilities and feel less cared for. Another factor is that the non-custodial parent, which is usually the father, tends to drift from his children over the years following a divorce, both physically and emotionally. A loving and caring father-child relationship is very important for children and for the way they act in the future. Without a close and caring relationship with their father, chil­dren may experience emotional issues and can even cause confu­sion. The gender of the custodial parent may also play a part in determining the impact of divorce on children. There is some evidence that children tend to show more problems if they are in the custody of a parent of the oppo­site gender than a parent of the same gender. It is also proven that the greater the problems between the parents after divorce, the greater the number of problems the children will

In 2008, there were 70,226 divorces in Canada. Currently, around 50% of marriages end in divorce. Divorce has become a giant epidemic around the world which is becoming extremely popular. For many children, divorce is a big problem and can have fairly serious results depending on whether or not both parents are present in said child’s life, the financial responsibilities and how it has been handled. There are numerous reactions depending on how severe the divorce was and also many ways to avoid a harmful effect on the child.

Divorce can have a lasting impact on children. For starters the holiday season can get tough. Some children switch place to place for certain holidays while others may have the conflict of celebrations on the same day. Having those conflicts can cause distress. Holidays are also a time where children remember the happier time when the family was one. Divorce can also cause emotional issues. Trust is one of those emotional issues that children are faced with. Their trust issue can result in not able to have a close relationship with another. Trust issues can also lead into social issues with children of divorce. The impact of divorce can cause children to go place to place not being able to have time of their own. However some children of

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.

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.

Effects of divorce may vary by gender, age, development level, and quality of noncustodial parenting (Miller, 1). For example; preschoolers are more likely to focus on maintaining emotional security and relationships with both parents, and to need routines in their school and home environments. These early problems can be compounded by the time they reach middle childhood. This is the result of the child blaming him or herself for their parents divorce. The child may feel that it is their responsibility to some how bring their parents back together.

Divorce is one of the many problems facing the family unit today. People have different views on the effect of divorce on children but not a few analysts opine that when a couple opt for divorce, the resultant effects on them and their children are most

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.

In today’s generation, there is a decline in the growth of children because of the lack of parenting that a child receives when growing up with a divorced family. Children often think that the divorce is their fault, but it is never their fault. Children even struggle with divorce as they grow older, and they tend to show a decrease in school performance.