Divorce
And the impact on everyone in the household
Little girls’ dreams and aspirations are to live happily ever after. Unfortunately, this high standard for young girls is quite unrealistic. Not all marriages work the initial time, and more often than not, the second marriage doesn’t work. When divorce is occurring, the children can be vulnerable to various stressors, along with the parents themselves.
Divorce is defined as “a complete or radical severance of closely connected things” and in this particular scenario, it is the separation of man and wife (Divorce). Unfortunately, divorce has emerged as a very likely outcome of marriages today, questioning the ideology that marriages are ‘made in heaven’. As divorce begins to be accepted as a common practice, the separation rates among couples are progressively increasing. The idea of divorce, considered as sin by many, has become a major concern in our society. Divorce of all types are becoming a common occurrence in the United States, but negative effects are leaving men, women and children in psychological turmoil.
Most couples get married in hopes of their marriage lasting forever. Many couples recite vows to each other during the wedding ceremony in which they vow to love each other “in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do them part.” Unfortunately, statistics show that as many as 50% of couples seek to end their marriage through the process of divorce (“Children and Divorce”). Once a divorce has occurred, there can be negative consequences for the couple, any children that are involved, and society as a whole. No one gets married with the expectation that it will end in divorce and this leaves those involved wondering what happened to forever.
The Reality of Divorce in American Society
As with most life transitions, divorce can be liberating, depressing, frustrating, or traumatic to any person who experiences it. Perhaps the most painful part on the process of divorce is when the children get involved and when they all get trapped in the situation. These children may suffer significant losses in their lives and unless the situation can be handled in a civil manner, they will become prone to the psychological torment that could affect them for the rest of their lives. The issue of divorce however is becoming more and more intense since for the past ten years the divorce rate in the United States has skyrocketed to a record high of almost fifty- percent. It is also believed that the divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world and the reason for this are primarily the ever-changing role of the husbands and wives in their household, early marriage, infidelity, extra marital affairs, domestic violence, financial instability and psychological incapacity.
Divorce is the legal and final dissolution of a marriage. This usually happens when people grow apart, feeling unloved and unappreciated, and troubles with finances. Divorce is an acceptable thing because there is no reason to stay in an unhappy marriage, you can always re marry, and get yourself out of an abusive relationship.
Divorce is the termination of wedding vows and the cancelation of duties and responsibilities in which both people agreed by saying “I do” on their wedding day. Divorce is a frightening word for many or even a nightmare some never saw coming. When people hear the word divorce, most label it as a representation of failure; others symbolize divorce as putting their foot down and finally having the courage to leave behind a bond that was supposed to be unbreakable. Separation affects people in several different ways; some dread it others welcome it. While marriage is supposed to be a beautiful union between two individuals, divorce seems like an all too common life event. It is more than common in the United States, or even across the world. Parental divorce can be life changing. The whole family is affected but it has more negative effects on children weather minor or adult. The effects are more devastating for younger children.
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)
Cause and Effects of Divorce in the United States of America
“You change for two reasons: either you learn enough that you want to, or you’ve been hurt enough that you have to.” While maturing, young adults start searching for other peers to settle down with and marry. Although glamorous to picture, marriage is a commitment two partners make for life. To stick by one another “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health” (Sample Marriage Vows, 2004).
Divorce is a word that everyone knows very well, no matter what the age. These days, everyone knows at least one person that has either been in a divorce or whose parents are divorced. Today, about 50% of all marriages end in divorce('No-Fault' Divorce, 2004). Between the time that half of those couples get married and divorced, many of them had children. By 2004, "one in four children lived in single-parent homes"('No-Fault' Divorce, 2004). After the divorce, not only are the adults hurting, but the children are also. Throughout the divorce, the parents are caught up in each other, money, possessions, and their own pain that without even realizing it, their children are hurting too. Adults are becoming more careless and think less about how compatible they are to their partners. Some couples have children shortly after the wedding before they adjust to each other. After their children are born, the real problems start to become more relevant. With new problems surfacing and raising children at the same time, it becomes very difficult and divorce sounds like an answer to the problems.
The High Divorce Rate in the United States
Marriage is a commitment that seems to be getting harder to keep. The social standards placed on an individual by society and influenced by the media inevitably lead some to consider divorce as a “quick-fix” option. “Have it your way” has become a motto in the United States. It has become a country without any consideration of the psychological effects of marriage and divorce. The overwhelmingly high divorce rate is caused by a lack of moral beliefs and marital expectations.