As children, we depend greatly on our parents to satisfy our basic needs, for guidance, nurturance and for help in shaping our emotions, behaviors and relationships. For children, the family is a highly valued context for understanding and interpreting their development as individuals. As Bjorklund and Pelligrini (2001) have asserted, we are a “slow-developing, big-brained species”, the relatively large size of our brains demands a prolonged period of immaturity, therefore requiring a great deal of support and nurturance from parents (DeLoache, J., Eisenberg, N., Siegler, R. 2011). However, an adaptive consequence to this extended immaturity is our high level of neural plasticity and our ability to learn from experience. Growing up in a stable environment can undoubtedly reap successful development for children on many levels, just as living in an unstable environment will certainly allow for undesirable consequences. Despite great individual differences, research from psychologists such as Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud, among others allows us to organize and understand the affects of long lasting parental conflict on child development and family. Research has allowed a strong shot at understanding child development, allowing parental conflict to be observed and connected with the development of children across many aspects. It is largely the differences between socioeconomic status, culture, race, gender and level of conflict, support and resiliency, which directly affect children and other relatives over time. A longitudinal study of one hundred and eighty seven children ages five and six has shown us that parental separation is greatly associated with an increased rate of emotional and behavioral problems in children (Clemens,... ... middle of paper ... ...l Journal of Behavioral Development, 22(4), 729-751. doi:10.1080/016502598384144 Sarrazin, J., & Cyr, F. (2007). Parental conflicts and their damaging effects on children. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 47(1), 77-93. Siegler, R., DeLoache, J., & Eisenberg, N. (2011). How children develop (Third ed.). New York, New York: Worth Publisher. STADELMANN, S., PERREN, S., GROEBEN, M., & von KLITZING, K. (2010). Parental separation and children's Behavioral/Emotional problems: The impact of parental representations and family conflict. Family Process, 49(1), 92-108. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01310.x Sturge-Apple, M., Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (2006). Impact of hostility and withdrawal in interparental conflict on parental emotional unavailability and children's adjustment difficulties. Child Development, 77(6), 1623-1641. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00963.x
Family therapy is often needed when families go through transitions such as separations between parents and divorce. According to research, “the power of family therapy derives from bringing parents and children together to transform their interactions” (Nichols, & Davis, p.18), as problems need to be addressed at their source. The children who are the most vulnerable, when parents decide to separate, exhibit symptoms which are exaggerations of their parent’s problems (Nichols, & Davis, p.18). Frank and Walt Berkman are the examples of how children cope and adapt to the stressors of family separations such as marital separations and
Berk, L. (2009). Child Development (Custom Edition for Pennsylvania State University ed.). New York : Custom Publishing.
At some point in every parent-child relationship, the child gets to a point where he no longer wants to feel dependent upon his parent. In some cases, the child will emotionally detach himself from his parent in order to
Smith, P., Cowie, H. and Blades, M. (2003). Understanding children’s development (4th ed.). UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Children of divorced parents may have a lower sense of psychological well-being than children who grew up with intact families the range of feelings that a child may encounter include: disbelief and denial, sadness, loss, loneliness, depression, anger, anxiety, fear, relief, and hope. Some children may experience long-lasting emotional effects into their adulthood that damage their ability to preserve relationships. The result of parental divorce shapes children emotionally and may impact self-esteem, future relationships, dating and marriage (Armando Loomis and Booth 895+)..
Foulkes-Jamison, Lesley Matthews, D. Wayne, (1998). Long-term effects of divorce on children. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs482.pdf
The first study to be considered is a qualitative study which spanned a 25 year period and looked at 131 children from divorced families of the 1970’s. It was specifically concerned with growth and development (psychologically and socially) of these children post divorce and had extensive follow-up interviews with both parents and children at 18 months, 5, 10 and 25 year marks. At the 25 year follow-up a comparison group of adult children from intact families who had otherwise similar backgrounds were also interviewed. Some of these “intact” families were ideal while others were filled with conflict, most were somewhere in the middle. This study found a casual relationship between divorce itself and the well-being of the children which was significant all the way into adulthood. The study found that parental conflicts from before the divorce were not dominant in the children’s memories but unhappiness was related mostly to the separation itself (most children in this study had no expectations of the breakup prior to it occurring). The exception to this is when violent events occurred as with 25% of c...
... (2009) The science of development. In R.V. Kail & A. Barnfield (Eds.), Children and their development (pp. 8 – 22). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Many children are separated from their parents by the earliest age of three months. Separation from parents can cause a great amount of stress for many young children. Which this type of separation could have potential long-term consequences for their mental and physical health. A child needs to establish a secure attachment in their relationship with their
The development of families and individuals in the family affect parent child relations. This includes leaving home, marriage, first child birth, divorce, relocating, working outside the home, and possible illnesses or disability. The developments put tension, pressure, and stress on a child and parents relationship. Causing the child to resent and or feel slighted by the parent. They feel this way because of unfair treatment, not enough attention, recent failures, and a possible divorce. A child may feel as though their parent isn’t treating as though they should and it may cause tension in the parent child relationship. It could also cause resentment from the child to the parent. Leaving home can be a bad experience and feeling for the parent and the child. Depending on whom leaves home the parent or the child even if just ...
Children who suffer from a family breakdown can effect the child's educational achievement, behaviour, mental health and long-term health. There are significant differences between children who experience parental separation compared with children from intact families. Although the difference between the two groups is generally statistically significant, effect sizes are nevertheless small, reflecting the fact that within both groups, children vary widely in their experiences. Children from intact families can experience circumstances known to increase the risk of poor outcomes such as poverty, parental conflict, violence and poor parenting, whilst children whose parents separate may not experience these or can cope well, with the result that many children experiencing family
Arguments state that proper authorities are “likely to misunderstand the experience and minimize the problem (i.e., say that the children will figure it out and come running back in no time) or encourage the targeted parent to take actions that could be quite unhelpful (i.e., taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude)”. Meanwhile, the child is deprived of a relationship with the healthier parent and grows up with a very dysfunctional role model, missing out on many developmental experiences. Because this is one of the most severe forms of emotional abuse, it is likely that these children will develop mental illnesses. Some will become alienators themselves. In my view, the term 'parental alienation' incorrectly identifies the target parent as the
Many children in today’s society are growing up in a single parent household as a result of divorce. This creates a binuclear family where the child is living in two different households. It is believed that if the parents can have “good” divorce that the child will essentially have the same healthy emotions as before. The textbook Delinquency in Society states that divorce can cause many problems for children, but it has not been linked to delinquency (Regoli, Hewitt, DeLisi, 255).
Wood, A. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2007). Child development: The world of psychology.
Child Development is a well organised and user friendly pedagogical book. Santrock says, “This book is about children’s development – its universal features, its individual variations, its nature at the beginning of the twenty-first century.”