The Effects Of Divorce On Children

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

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.

Social Scientist started to examine the family structure when they began to notice a high divorce rate that began in the 1960s. They wanted to know how divorce was affecting children mentally and if they were more likely to commit crimes than those who had both parents. Social scientist studies began to show that children who come from divorced parents tend to have more academic, behavioral, and emotional problems. When parents decide to divorce or separate, the child or children begin to stress because they know that everything is going to change and this can cause fear among the child. Studies have shown that a few children begin to adapt to their parents separation. However, more than one-third of children were clinically depressed, failing in school, had low social communication, were unable to sleep and eat, and hoped that one day their parents would get back together. Many of them

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).

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

Studies have shown temporary and long lasting effects mentally, physically and emotionally on children of divorce. As divorce rates continue to heighten, so does the likelihood that a child of divorced parents may have a larger risk of adjusting in the areas of psychological development, behavior,

Divorce in and of itself does not harm children; it is the intensity and duration of the conflict between parents that negatively impacts a children adjustment. After a divorce or separation, it isn’t uncommon for children to display some behavioral issues. A child acting out shouldn’t come as a complete surprise because after all, a divorce is a challenging obstacle for the entire family to go through. Behavioral issues in children of divorce can range from mild acting out to destructive behavior. Feelings of anger, confusion, frustration and sadness are all part of the roller coaster of emotions that a child may experience as a result of the events happening in their life. A child’s grades might begin to fall after a divorce. While this change is more common in older children and in boys than girls, it is a statistical probability. However, each child may handle their parent’s divorce a certain way than other children depending on many factors, especially age.

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.

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

Divorce and separation are stressful for all those who are involved, whether it’s the parents themselves or their children. Children who have had parents go through a divorce tend to have a higher risk of psychological and behavioral problems. Many children who go through this, feel like they have lost control. Everything around them is changing and unfortunately there is nothing they can do about it. They feel hopeless. It is very common to see this loss of control turn into frustration, which leads to outbursts and aggression. Children of divorce, especially boys, tend to be more aggressive to others.

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.

Studies comparing both children of divorced parents and children of married parent’s shows those of divorced parents had a greater risk percentile of suffering academically and experiencing emotional trauma. Research comparing children of divorced children to children with married parents show that children from divorced homes suffer academically, they usually experience high levels of behavioral problems, and they are less likely to graduate from high school.2 Other research has gone to show that children of divorced parents are more highly likely compared to children of married parents to be incarcerated for committing a crime as a juvenile and it has further shown that once they become teenagers they are more likely to engage in doing drugs and alcohol.4-5 A few more statistics to consider from this research is that children of divorced parents suffer from psychological distress and encounter emotional scars that last way into their adulthood.A research called the Wallerstein study was done by a psychologist named Judith Wallerstein who followed a group of children of divorce from the 1970s all the way to the 1990s.Judith began interviewing them 18 months after their parents’ divorce then 5,10,15,and 25 years after . She believed that after all that time the children now adults would most

“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.

"’Divorce,’"psychiatrist McDermott, ‘is now the single largest cause of childhood depression.’ Marital disruption, quite clearly, can wound children for years” (Zinsmeister). Divorces in the past few decades have skyrocketed. This leaves many children stuck in the middle of an awkward situation with is prone to produce discomfort in all family members involved in this elaborate ordeal. Divorce has a detrimental impact on children which can be observed in how it affects their lives when dealing with legal issues, short term emotional effects, as well as the long term mental health concerns.

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.