The Effects of Parental Relationship and Parent-Child Relationship on Adolescents’ Self-Esteem in Divorce Family

Parental divorce can result in devastating effects on children. These children suffer tremendous long-term consequences as a result of an event that is not their doing. This paper reviews literature and opinions concerning the long-term effects of divorce on adolescents. The paper outlines four major areas of interest: aggression as a result of parental conflict and the different types associated with boys and girls, depression in the lives of boys and girls in its various forms, the choice boys and girls make to marry or not later in life and the possibility of adolescents expressing parental alienation. The results of this

The scholarly article “The Long-Term Effects of Divorce on Children: A Review,” by Judith S. Wallerstein, explores various studies conducted by psychologists over a twenty year span, about the long term social and psychosocial difficulties experienced by children of divorce. The majority of the research for this particular topic discusses how the problems for these children began long before the actual separation of the parents, a theory that had not been previously researched in full until these studies. After reading the article, it is evident, that often the divorce itself is the last resort of the quarrelling parents. By waiting several years before finally breaking off the failed marriage the parents are unintentionally

The key research question in this study is what are the long term effects of parental divorce on a child’s relationship between their parents and their siblings? They took into consideration variables such as age of divorce, gender, and living arrangements so they can see what influence they may have on the present study results and compare it with previous studies. They gave 3 different surveys to 102 students with married parents and 107 students with divorced parents to be able to observe the differences in relationships between the two types of families. Some of the key findings of this study are that females actually have better adult relationships with their siblings and that divorce caused the children to have better relationships with their mother, and worse relationships with their father. They noted that the age when their parents got divorced was not a variable that affected whether or not they had a good relationship with their siblings. For the relationship between their mothers, it was better unless there was a variable of pre-divorce or post-divorce conflict between them. For their fathers, it showed that daughters had worse relationships with their fathers compared to sons. Living arrangements showed effects for both of the parents depending on which parent they lived with. When it comes to remarriage, it had a positive affect on mother-child relationship when the father got remarried and no affect when the mother was remarried.

“Teen Health and Wellness” expresses that the result on children ages six to eight is most profound. It says they are old enough to realize what is happening but do not have adequate skills to deal with the disruption. It asserts that they often feel a sense of responsibility, experience tremendous grief, and have a pervasive sadness and yearning for the departed parent. According to this article, adolescents' reactions to divorce include anger, a desire for a stable home, and a need for clear boundaries between them and their parents, especially around such issues as sexuality, dating, and household responsibilities. “Dysfunctional Family” testifies that teens that already have to deal with their maturing bodies and minds, divorce is just an added burden (Dysfunctional 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).

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).

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 rapid epidemic of divorce in the United States within the last 20 years has affected more than one half of the families in the United States. In the past, we have viewed divorce as a short term crisis and not as a longitudinal view of the effects divorce might bring. Divorce does affect children. However, it is not the divorce that is the problem; it is the ongoing conflict between the parents and the child’s coping mechanisms in their own stages of development. Counseling, family therapy, and also having a divorce mediation are all successful ways of coping with the family.

A longitudinal study was conducted amongst 240 youth between the ages of 9 to 12 years old who was all chosen from single mother's households, who did not remarried, no real companionship and did not plan to get remarried within the trial period. The study was to examine the changes in a mother /child relationship, discipline, and children coping mechanism after a divorce. In order for the study to work the mothers and the children had to do 11 separate individual group sessions. The mother’s group sessions consisted of post divorce mental health problems like parent child relationship quality, discipline, time sharing, and interparental conflict. The children’s group sessions consisted of effective ways to cope, how to reduce negative thinking during stressful situations, and parent child relationship

     Divorce is a family crisis, which could require a long period for recovery. Along with the turmoil associated with the adolescent stage of life, divorce adds other

Human beings may be the most developed species on the planet, but as a result human children have some of the longest development times in the animal kingdom. This long development stage indicates that a plethora of factors play into the growth and maturing of a child. Thus, an event as stressful as the tearing of a family through divorce can have serious of effects on the children involved, especially as the child tries to interpret, rationalize, and cope with the event. One can then imagine that how a child copes with the divorce can greatly influence their final development as they reach adulthood. A variety of literature examining (1) the different types of coping methods, (2) why children gravitate towards these different types, (3) what effect coping resources have, (4) and what potential consequences the effects of coping in children of divorce will face in the future, will be analyzed to decide how strong the effects of coping in children of divorce are and where further research should be conducted.

In today’s age and day, the vital factor in shaping children’s personality is self-esteem. Self-esteem is an inordinately or exaggeratedly favourable impression of oneself. With divorce on the rise, the issue of how divorce affects children has been the hot topic over the years. Next, research indicated that divorce has long-term effects on children, such as lower self-esteem in children (Krider, 2002). To illustrate, after children’s parents divorced, children will feel that the world is uncertain and the attention of society is changeable, therefore, they may begin to internalize their uncertainties and to question their own worth.

These include academic deterioration, antisocial and delinquent behaviors, anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. Early promiscuity, relationship difficulties, and illicit drug use are also noted. Other studies correlate resiliency in adulthood as one product of living in a conflictual family system”(Rich et al., 2007 p.164). The effects of divorce vary depending on the situation and the child. “Hess and Camara found that many children of divorce suffer severe emotional consequences such as depression, anger, anxiety, and withdrawal, any of which, if prolonged, can have a negative impact on the child’s overall emotional development. It is also reported adjustment problems in the area of cognitive, emotional, and social development among children of divorce as well. In addition, parental separation has been found to be particularly stressful for adolescents”(Bornstein and Walters, 1988 p.248).

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.”

Over the past few decades, divorce has risen dramatically and has impacted many individuals, including adolescents. Adolescence is a time of change and the addition of divorce in the family complicates this development, especially in terms of mental health. (N. Civitci, A. Civitci & N.C. Fiyakali, 2009) Following parental divorce, adolescents tend to suffer because of the poor coping strategies they implement, influencing increased negative affectivity. (Consoli et al., 2013) Negative affectivity may be defined as emotional distress or a tendency to experience negative emotions. The purpose of this paper is to examine research surrounding the effects of divorce on adolescents’ negative affectivity. Inquiries illustrate a positive correlation between divorce and negative affectivity, however this association is dependent on familial relationships. (Yárnoz-Yaben & Garmendia, 2016) Unfortunately, though, the research is limited in in terms of the methods used to gather data and establish the connection.