The Effect Of Love Gone Sour On A Child 's Development

According to attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982, 1979), attachment patterns are formed in the context of early childhood experiences with caregivers and maintained by interpersonal relationships in adulthood. Attachment is defined as an affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through space and time and serves to join them emotionally. Attachment trauma may be especially problematic because of its influence on the course of psychological, social, emotional and physiological development over one 's lifetime. Also, if a child is traumatized by reason of caregiver neglect or maltreatment, significant damage in attachment development may occur. Past research discovered that over two-thirds of maltreated children develop insecure attachment styles (Friedrich, 2002). Moreover, children who have experienced abuse or neglect in early childhood

The likelihood of a person’s marriage ending in divorce presently stands at fifty-percent in the United States. As a consequence many children will go through the divorce process as well. What is important to note is that many children go through divorce before the age of six and this is very significant to their development. Most importantly from infancy through the early years of life (preschool years), children are working on forming secure attachments. There have not been many studies done about the impact of divorce on children younger than six years old. Only one study was found where child participants were aged 3 to 6 years (Nair, & Murray, 2005). The few that have found interesting results, discuss how divorce prior to the

This paper discusses the correlation of children with divorced parents and their ability or inability to have intimate relationships in their futures. In most cases, it depends on the age of the child at the time of the divorce. Studies showed that marital problems, including but not limited to divorce, was associated with negative social, emotional, and physical affects in the children’s lives. Most articles included have different types of specific details, but all generally have the same outcome, being that children with divorced parents love differently than those that have parents happily married. Similar studies surveyed college students and discovered that children with fathers, who divorced and remarried, did not have a close relationship, which made these children more likely to avoid relationships. This literature review discusses the impact that divorce has on children who have or do not have relationships because of what happened to their parents’ relationships.

The rising divorce rates in America are no secret, with 50% of children in America going through the divorce of their parents. There is a huge weight on these children’s shoulders, the weight of dragging their bags from one home to the other and seeing their parents barely

However, this is not the reality of our times. McConville (2013) states 41-50% of first marriages end in divorce in the United States. The affect the divorce has on the child is dictated by how the parents maneuver through the transition. Potter (2010) states that elementary and high school students both display poorer psychosocial well-being versus children from non-divorced families (pg. 933). Adolescents face many struggles and challenges throughout this developmental stage. Being a child of divorced parents can heighten stress and anxiety leading to depressive symptoms. To avoid and or decrease this instance, adolescents affected by divorce can benefit heavily through group counseling with others facing identical

“Since 1972, more than a million youngsters have been involved in a divorce each year” (Zinsmeister). When one reviews the countless ways that divorce affects children, this statistic becomes overwhelmingly depressing. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. How did society get to this point? Divorce has become so normalized in the culture today that many people do not even realize the harm that divorce is causing children on a daily basis. Even what most people would consider to be the least harmful divorce situation possible is typically still wreaking havoc on a child’s life. Studies done by sociologists have found that divorced couples describe being happier and more satisfied than individuals who stayed in unhappy or failing marriages (Issitt). However, what these researchers fail to realize is that the children in these families are being negatively affected by their parent’s actions. A recent study showed that “As many as 25 percent of teens whose parents divorce end up depressed or abuse dangerous substances” (Gallup). Parents need to grasp the fact that their happiness is not the only important factor to consider in situations of divorce. The child’s emotional, physical, and psychological wellbeing is at stake when a couple decides to divorce. Divorce often negatively affects children by causing emotional trauma and guilt, behavioral changes, financial difficulties, and eventually problematic future

Attachment theory originally started with the work of John Bowlby. Bowlby’s interest was in linking the relationship between a mother and her young child with the development of their personality later in life. He constructed the basic principles of attachment theory using concepts from ethology, cybernetics, information processing, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysis. Bowlby’s work completely changed the way people thought about the importance of a mother’s bond to their child and the implications that disruption to the bond would bring (Bretherton, 1992).

John Bowlby was a British psychoanalyst, medical doctor, and war veteran credited with his studies relating to attachment and bonding. Bowlby’s theory rationalizes how attachment behaviors are triggered when an individual senses fear, fatigue, or pain. Bowlby felt that human attachment was just as important as “the need for food and sex yet considered attachment as a homeostatic control system operating within the context of other behavior control systems” (New World Encyclopedia, 2013, p.2). If the child is experiencing stress then the child will rely upon the caregiver for support, otherwise the child feels safe in exploring and discovering in his surroundings while the caregiver is providing a secure base. If the child feels his basic needs are not being properly met then the outcome is an attachment that has been disturbed or disrupted (Levy et al., 2015, p. 198).

For many people throughout the United States, it is a melancholy but common sight to see broken families, separated children, and squabbling spouses. In a society in which over 20% of marriages end in divorce, it is not surprising that the majority of today’s children grow up in a one parent marriage. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that in 1993, about 1,187,000 divorces were granted in the U.S., affecting 1,075,000 children. Sadly, some children are even deprived of seeing their mother or father throughout their entire childhood. Many others are allowed to visit one of their parents only once or twice a month. This lack of family unity results in emotional and psychological problems for both the parents and the

Harvey and Fine say, in their book on the effects of divorce on children, that divorce has increased at a “contagious rate since 1980.” They argue that divorce in America is a “cultural burden of vast proportions,” and insist that the “pain extends beyond the persons who dissolve their relationships to children, parents, and dear friends.” Harvey and Fine

Divorce is accumulating at a faster rate in the United States than any other time in history, with half of all marriages ending in divorce. It is now time to wonder whether this will have any impact on the children of the divorced. But what exactly are the consequences of being raised by one parent? Children of divorced parents are at a disadvantage compared to children with two married parents because they are more vulnerable to an addiction and/or substance abuse problem, less likely to continue school, posses destructive behavior issues, and acquire more susceptibility to psychological problems.

In the last 25 years, divorce has become a major issue in American society. Since the turn of the century, the divorce rate has held steady between 4.0-3.2 divorces per 1000 people per year (National Vital Statistics System, 2015). With this rising divorce rate, more children are living between parents, or in single family homes, and many of these children have been exposed to altercations between parents, as well as rough custody battles and divorce settlements. Traumatic experiences like these are highly likely to stick with children of divorce throughout their life, especially if the child is older at the time of the divorce.

Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1

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.

Children coping with parent’s dissolution have more problem adjusting to life events: “Research on interparental conflict and child adjustment” has shown that parental conflicts that are overt, intense, and child related are more strongly associated with child maladjustment than conflicts that are less evident (covert), intense, and not child related” (Davies & Cummings, 2006; Grych & Fincham, 1990). In a long term consequence, there are chances that they, when growing up, do not believe in marriage, and the risk of them getting divorced is higher than children from an intact family. Children from a divorced family witness interparental conflicts frequently, which shapes their pessimism that marriage problem is unsolvable as well as divorce is easier and acceptable (Cui, Fincham, & Pasley, 2008; Segrin, Taylor, & Altman, 2005). As a relationship is not always about love but it is also about frustration, disappointments and arguments, without patience and efforts from both partners, the connection will not stay strong and healthy. This motivates them to give up a relationship easily, rather than putting effort to work it out. They tend to commit less to their partner. This pattern in adolescent/ young adulthood can predict their rough marriage in the future.