Essay on Effects of Divorce on the Family

Divorce is one of many controversial subjects in family and human development research. What inspired me to critically analyze the article “Does Divorce Create Long-Term Negative Effects for Children?” is the challenge it would be for me to put my bias aside considering I am from a divorced home. After reading the article and analyzing it over and over, I can’t help but think that the writer answering “YES” to this controversial question overlooked many variables and over generalized his findings and research. With Zinsmeister overgeneralizing his research, not considering enough alternate explanations for long-term negative effects divorce, and his lack of relevant information needed to assess reliability and validity are why I find this article to be insightful but not accurate and hope to show why.

Divorce is typically a very painful and emotional experience for all parties involved. Two divorces have occurred in my life, only one of which was recent enough for me to remember. Steven Mintz, the author of “American Childhood As a Social and Cultural Construct,” mentions, “Children today grow up under different circumstances than their immediate predecessors. They are more likely to experience their parents’ divorce” (2009:53). My mother and father divorced when I was two years old. Due to my age at the time of the divorce, I do not know anything about the divorce from experience. I only know what I have been told about the divorce because I was too young to remember it happening. Over time, my mother became unhappy with my father’s “workaholic” attitude. He averaged

In the Spring of 2011, my parents got a divorce. I was thirteen years old and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to experience. I can remember like it was yesterday when my mother sat me down and confessed the tragic news. Going through something that horrific, I would never wish divorce on anyone. Being a child of divorce, I went though the divorce differently than my mother and father did. With both parents being separated in different homes, I had to choose who I wanted to stay with on the nightly. It was a bad situation because both parents were going through such a destructive time, yet both desired always to be with my sister and I. That was the most painful and challenging decision I would have to daily make. I never

Six years ago, a summer afternoon, my dad hugged me and I said “I will be gone for three days, I have a job in Austin, but I promise that I will be back before your birthday. I promise.” Days, weeks, months almost two years passed by and I did not receive any phone call or text message from him. Throughout that time my dad was gone, my mom told me that she was getting the papers ready to divorce my dad. I was noticing that the last three-four years that I was living with both of my parents, their relationship was getting worse. It was not a healthy situation for anyone in the house. What I mean about not being healthy is that my mother and father were damaging one another, emotionally and verbally, which my brothers and I would watch everything. Every day was the same routine, we forgot how it was to have a peaceful home. Around that moment, I honestly never thought divorce was going to be their solution.

After making the decision to leave it divided up my family in more ways than one. For a while, I always asked myself how could my mother do that to me, at that age, what did I do so wrong. My family

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.

In the seventh grade my parents decided to get a divorce, it had a very negative effect on my family. Being in middle school the situation was very confusing and vague. I thought to myself how annoying it’s going to be switching houses every week and having double the thanksgivings, christmases, easters,etc. Also having

When I was about 14 months old, my parents separated which then led to a divorce. Since I was extremely young, I cannot remember how it affected me. But once I got into grade school, I was in great knowledge that something was different. I then started to understand the affects my parents’ divorce had on me such as anger, resentment, feeling of loneliness, and prob-lems with communication. Now that I am a young adult, I still feel like I am being affected by those same problems except now I am able to control myself when I start to feel the symptoms. Divorce has had a huge impact on my life.

My answer is no. Although it has been tough at times, I have learned to find the good in every situation. I appreciate every day that I have with both my mom and my dad, and the bond I have formed with each of them. I have gained a new perspective on divorce. I have learned so much about myself as a result of the divorce, and it marked my transition from a teenager to a young

My parents got divorced when I was just four years old. Ever since then my parents have been aparted from each other and it was rough growing up with them when they were fighting continuously on who will get custody of both my brother and I. A short year after the separation my dad met a girl named Shannon and they fell in love. My mom on the other hand was still only focusing on trying to get custody of us kids. Not that my dad wasn't focusing on that as well. Now I am going to tell you my life living with my dad and his new girlfriend and kids. I will also explain how the divorce impacted my life in a negative and positive way.

In recent decades the family institution has undergone a dramatic transformation focusing on increased divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families (Amato, 2000; Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Graefe & Lichter, 1999). Due to the increase of divorce rates children move more frequently and deal with additional family transitions throughout their childhood (Brown, 2006). As these changes slowly increase, about 40% of kids who are born to wedded, two-biological- parent families have a higher chance of parental divorce prior to reaching adulthood(Amato,2000). In addition, these children will likely experience a multitude of family disruptions and transitions as parents decide to remarry and progress with new partners. The family atmospheres during these times are incredibly detrimental to the growth and development of these children (Sun& Li, 2009). Research studies show that parental divorce can compromise educational success for their children. Children in two-parent families have noticeably higher test scores than children who are in single parent families and also had lower chances of graduating from high school (Sun & Li, 2001). One of the rationalizations for the academic difficulty in divorced

Children need intact families to flourish. It is hard to imagine that if the family is torn apart, a child can simply adjust to a new situation, home, step-parent, siblings, and entire change of life as they know it without suffering significant effects upon their mental health and development lacks. Despite voices that serve to minimize the effects of divorce on children, this paper will show that the negative effects upon their mental health and development are such that the best solution is to avoid divorce all together. According to Stinson and Jones, “well-being on the road to adulthood for both children and teens hinges on family relationships.”

Divorce and its effects on children are common issues that are on the rise in the world today. Divorce affects more than just the married couple. Children often bear the brunt of divorce, which makes divorce a complicated decision for most parents. Understanding the effects divorce has on a child is important to know exactly why a child acts a certain way. A divorce can affect a child psychologically, intellectually, and even behaviorally. Children can suffer physiologically from things like depression, intellectually by having trouble in school and behaviorally by having trouble in social settings. Legally, a divorce is a single event, but from a psychological standpoint, it is a complicated,

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.