Exploring How Parental Divorce Before the Age of Six Affects The Child’s Attachment Relationships in Adulthood.

Attachment theory, or styles, is the way we describe relationships and bonds between people. In this particular case it will be about the bond between two parents and the child as they struggle through the troubles of divorce. In Dean McKay’s article “The Trauma of Divorce: Reducing the Impact of Separation on Children” we see that he identifies divorce for children as trauma, and that because of trauma they become less secure in attachment. He begins to show the multiple ways that divorce can cause an impact on children, if the child is going through an attachment stage. McKay also begins to tell of how attachments can become weakened through divorce (McKay, 1997). His main area of concern though is that if the attachment is weakened as a child how does it both them as an adult?

The first three years of a child 's life are the most significant for growth and development, both mentally and physically. Young children perceive situations and events that occur in their environment differently depending on their developmental stage. Urie Bronfenbrenner is a psychologist that came up with the Ecological Systems Theory which is a modern theory of development. The Ecological Systems Theory was created into a model that has multiple system levels. The first level that directly impacts a child the most is called the microsystem and this system consists of family, peers, school, and health services. Divorce is being seen more often in society today and is happening earlier. Divorce can be very traumatic to a child even if the divorce was mutual and as peaceful as possible; imagine if it was a bad divorce? This puts stress and anxiety on young children and can affect their development. More and more studies are being conducted in the last thirty years showing the negative effects divorce has on young children. The more we find out exactly how and why it affects children so greatly we can come up with recommendations and strategies to help deal with it in a way that will not hinder the child 's development. This paper will connect the modern day developmental perspective with studies that have shown

This paper looks at the effects of divorce on children based on the application of various psychological developmental theories. More specifically, children within the age groups of 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 will be taken into account. The theories explored and applied will include Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Erikson’s psychosocial tasks, Bowlby’s attachment theory, Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, Bandura’s social learning theory and Vygotsky’s, and later Bronfenbrenner’s, ecological or developmental systems approach.

In the contrary, another longitudinal study took place across two decades with a cohort of preschoolers (4 years old) whose parents had been separated between 12-18 months. They were assessed again two years later (age 6) and then follow-ups occurred at 10, 16 and 24 years of age. The sample was expanded at each assessment and ended up including divorced, non-divorced and remarried individuals among 450 families. The most significant finding of the study was that 75% of the children were able to positively adjust between 2 – 6 years post divorce, while 25% still struggled with psychosocial problems for decades (Zimiles, 2004).

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

Attachment theory is rooted in the biological concept that children seek proximity to their parents or caregivers as a mean to survive stressful or dangerous situation. Interaction between children and their care givers are integrated into representational or internal working models that guide children understanding of current and future relationships, including expectations regarding the trustworthiness and predictability of others. Attachment security is fostered when children trust that their care-givers are accessible and capable of responding to their needs and safety. Parental divorce is a stressful time that may initiate different changes.

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

An absence of a parent or a parent’s separation, divorce, when a child is developing, may affect the child’s future relationships. “Evidence shows that, on average, children who have experienced parental divorce score somewhat lower than children in first-marriage families on measures of social development, emotional well-being, self-concept, academic performance, educational attainment, and physical health” (Demo, Supple)

“What’s love got to do with it?” When it comes to matters of relationships, our primary relationships in early childhood, such as maternal love, impacts how all other relationships in our life progress and function. Formulated by psychoanalysts John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (McLeod, 2009), Attachment theory asserts that our early emotional bonds shape and influence the dynamics of all our interpersonal relationships. As a result, love and attachment play an important role in our lives. Beyond infancy, childhood development and experiences guide our behaviors, especially in matters of the heart. Love is a tricky science even in the best of circumstances; yet, for children of divorce, the impact of love gone sour has long lasting effects.

Some studies which investigated the impact of divorce on preschoolers’attachment under the mediation of parental style (Nair& Murray, 2005), showed that divorced mothers reported

The change in a family dynamic, such as a divorce, will have a huge impact on a child’s development. During childhood, divorce in a child’s early life is one of the most stressful life events that can occur. Although, all children are not affected, majority of children are more likely to become affected and have a negative impact when it comes to their social and cognitive development. According to Velez et al (2011), “evidence shows that factors such as parental warmth, acceptance, support, family cohesion and firm rule enforcement are positively associated with engagement efforts and negatively associated with disengagement efforts” (pp. 245). At a young age, if children are experienced with a change in their family dynamic, this will lead

More than 1 million children experience divorce each year. In the textbook, Child Development, Feldman (2010) reported that for some children, divorce is an improvement over living with parents who have an intact but unhappy marriage, high in conflict. In about 70 percent of divorces, the pre-divorce level of conflict is not high. Children in these households may have a more difficult time adjusting to divorce. In this paper, I will examine two articles that further investigate pre-divorce conflict and children’s adjustment.

In some cases, the negative interactions before and during the process of divorce cease upon the finalisation of the divorce, allowing the parent to devote their love and attention towards their child unencumbered (Strohschein, 2005). Alternatively, in order to distract themselves from emotional pain not appropriately dealt with during or following the divorce, parents may become either overbearing, or self-absorbed and less attentive towards their children (Brodkin, 2008; Taylor & Andrews, 2009). During early childhood, according to Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development, children must develop a sense of self-control in order to avoid feelings of inadequacy and gain confidence in their own abilities (1977c). Overbearing parents have the potential to prevent their child from achieving autonomy, as they may be unwilling to relinquish control and allow their child to take steps towards independence, whereas inattentive parents may fail to encourage their child in activities that promote developmental growth as they are immersed in their own problems (Bacon & McKenzie, 2004). Divorce can have a profound impact on early childhood, however, whether that impact is positive or negative is dependent on how the parents manage the consistency of their love and care, the quality of the child’s environment pre, during and post divorce, and the parents willingness to foster a healthy degree of self-determination in their child, because

Parental divorce often decreases the level of trust that a child of divorce finds in a relationship. Children whose parent’s have divorced exhibit a fear of being rejected by those they become close to, and often distrust that their friends, family members, or significant others will remain loyal and close. This lack of trust often hampers any deepening in the relationship, and is believed to be the result of having a dysfunctional example of a marital relationship set before them. Many children of divorce have reportedly been less trusting of their own or a partner’s fidelity, and have had difficulty in fully committing to or “choosing” one person.

Familial relationships play a vital role in the lives of individuals. Humans form and foster relationships early on in development. Within the first years of life, infants rely on their primary caretakers in order to meet their physical, emotional, social, and psychological needs. As children grow older, they learn to meet their own needs by means of self-regulation. This means to self-regulate is fostered through the attachment cycle, a foundation for relationships that creates and provides a way to adjust and adapt to future experiences, building a sense of autonomy and self-efficacy within the child. Today, many children face parental divorce, and their family dynamic and attachment cycle are altered. Divorce disrupts daily lives and often traumatizes children, affecting their self-perception and concepts of regular behavior. The stress and frustration endured by parents if often carried over to the children. The stress associated with divorce impacts the lives of children and puts them at risk for emotional, physical, academic, and psychological problems.