The Effect of Divorce on Children
Works Cited Missing
Divorce is always a traumatic experience in a person's life, especially a child's. When parents divorce, children are not always considered during the settlement. This omission can lead to problems with the child's perception of daily life. The impact divorce has on a family is more prominent to the children of the family than the parents.
As a child, there are many situations that affect a view, memory, opinion, or attitude. Children have many of their own daily struggles to cope with, such as peer pressure. Adults sometimes forget what it is like to be a child dealing with some of the childhood pressures. Many parents do not realize how something like divorce could possibly affect their children as much as it does themselves. As the case may be, children are strongly affected by divorce. Some react differently than others, but all experience some kind of emotional change.
Parents who are going through a divorce sometimes try to shield their children from the situation. But regardless of their parents good intentions, children often find themselves in an emotional catastrophe. Instead of protection from the situation, children need support and reassurance during this hard time. Parents feel like it is their job to protect their children from the same kinds of anguish and stress that they feel during the divorce. But ignoring this only leads to more unwanted stress. Parents should help their children better understand what changes will be taking place in the future, such as new places to live, new ways of communicating with their parents, and new schedules of daily life.
There are many factors that affect a child's reaction to divorce. Their rea...
... middle of paper ...
...ince fathers usually make more money and have more economic resources, if they were to get remarried, children in the new family would be better off because getting remarried usually results in higher incomes.
It may not be possible to make every marriage a happy one or to always avoid divorce. Some spouses even have no choice when their mates leave them. But it's time to change all of this and lead these children to better adult lives. These children are the future and without them functioning correctly, the generations to come may also be affected in great ways. With a little more encouragement from our society, many of the same parents who would literally run in front of a speeding car to save their child from death might consider working harder at creating a better marriage to help our future generations (Betsy Hart: Time to Change the 'Divorce Debate').
Divorce has become an unquestionable remedy for the miserably married. Currently, the United States has the highest divorce rate in the world. Every year in the US approximately one million children experience divorce which, is about one in every three children (Amato 21). The effects of divorce can be tremendously painful for both children and adults. Children of divorce are more likely to suffer from behavioral, social, academic, and psychological problems than children raised in two-parent families.
The argument over how divorce affects children is one that has been going on for a very long time. Some people believe when parents get a divorce the children are not affected at all, while others believe when parents get a divorce the children are affected by the impact of divorce more than anyone in the family. In some cases, married couples can be in such a terrible marriage that divorce can in no way be avoided, and these divorces are usually the ones that children benefit from and are affected in a positive way. Many times though, a couple will choose to get a divorce because their marriage is not exactly the way it used to be, and they want that aspect of life back; these are the divorces that negatively affect children. Even though in some cases divorce does not affect children negatively, many times when parents obtain a divorce, the children are negatively harmed in many different ways that will forever change their lives.
"Statistics show that each year, over 1 million American children suffer the decision made by parent 's to end their relationship" (Amato, 2001). Divorce is the factor that plays a role in many households rather individually planned or just happens. Many people seem to believe that a divorce on young children of age will completely destroy them growing up. Nobody wants to see the good it can do for the children. What if the situation was bad, and divorce was the only safe solution. A lot of adults believe the child is more upset about the family falling apart. In reality most times, it 's because they don 't want to leave home, friends, schools. It wasn 't till I was ten years old that I was aware of what happened.
There are many different outcomes that the effect of a divorce may have on a child. Though divorce isn't always a positive thing, sometimes there are scenarios where a family is better off this way. According to research, the bond maintained between parent and child is the main change that plays a factor on the child's outcome when a divorce happens. The relationships between parents and their children were found to be more influential than the parents’ marital status. Negative effects were null if relationships remained intact after the divorce. However, sometimes the ability to keep these relationships closely knit just isn't as simple as it was before the divorce. Keeping a relationship intact is especially difficult for the non-custodial parent. (He...
Does divorce have more of an impact on the way American children act today than originally thought? Long ago divorce was a rare occasion and generally people feared it. Nowadays, fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. With that being said, the amount of children subjected to divorce is increasing. Individuals seem to believe a divorce is subjected to just the husband and wife relationships but research has found this not to be the case. Children today are becoming more distant from their parents and peers; some consider divorce as the reason. In research and studies done, it is proven that divorce does have an impact on American children and their emotions. Paying attention to children’s attitudes and the way they interact with other children is one of many ways to know there could be a problem in their life. Adults typically overrun the reality of a child’s feels, especially if they were subjects of intact families as children and aren’t familiar with the feeling of parental divorce. Most children do not want to upset their parents so instead of talking to them about their thoughts and feelings, they choose to stay quiet and distance themselves from everybody. The currency of divorce in modern society damages not only our children’s emotional development, but also their social attitudes.
Children of divorce have a different experience during the holidays, birthdays, and other family events. The process of parental separation alone can pay a toll on a child’s psychological health. Family events may make things awkward around the parents, but that doesn’t even compare to the things children of divorce will have to deal with, even into their adult lives. Constance Matthienssen, author and mother of three, shares in her article “Harry Potter and Divorce Among the Muggles” how her divorce affected her children (“Harry Potter”). Many parents don’t think about a divorce will affect their young children as they grow older, but divorce affects children even into their adult lives. Children of divorce grow to develop negative relationships with their parents, they tend to have poor self-esteem, and they may even find themselves unable to maintain an intimate relationship in their adulthood. Divorce affects every child differently, but it can cause many social issues into their adult lives.
Research indicates that one-parent families report for about 25 percent of the families in the United States with children under the age of 18. As indicated by researchers “A study of nearly 6,000 children found that youth from single-parent homes have more physical and mental health problems than children living with married parent, and another study confirms single-parent children are 2-3 times as likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems” Clinton, Hart, & Ohlschlager, (2005). The impact of divorce has a high diverse impact on the entire family and continues to create an impact on how children are able to deal and cope with the negative implications of an unhappy couple. A broken family’s children can often feel as though they are causing the problem and seek to either become complaisant to the problem or as they get older seek other forms of feeling loved and happy, which may lead to teenage pregnancy or s...
Divorce is becoming a worldwide phenomenon, significantly affecting children’s well-being. It radically changes their future causing detrimental effects. According to (Julio Cáceres-Delpiano and Eugenio Giolito, 2008) nearly 50% of marriages end with divorce. 90% of children who lived in the USA in the 1960s stayed with their own biological parents, whereas today it makes up only 40% (Hetherington, E. Mavis, and Margaret Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Such an unfavorable problem has been increasing, because in 1969, the legislation of California State changed the divorce laws, where spouses could leave without providing causes (Child Study Center, 2001). This resolution was accepted by the other states and later, the number of divorced people has been steadily growing. Such a typical situation is common for most countries in the world, which negatively affects children’s individuality. However, remarkably little amount of people can conceive the impact of marital separation caused to offspring. (? passive) Many children after separation of parents are exposed to a number of changes in the future. They have to be getting used to a further living area, feelings and circumstances. Their response to divorce can vary and depends on age, gender and personal characteristics. This essay will show the effects of divorce on children under various aspects such as educational, psychological and social impact. In addition, it will contain data about the divorce rate in the US and present disparate reactions of children. It will also include adequate recommendations for parents as to how act to children after divorce, in order to minimize the adverse effect on children.
Kelly, J. B., & Emery, R. E. (2003). Children's adjustment following divorce: Risk and resilience perspectives. Family Relations, 52(4), 352-362.
It is unfortunate that marriages sometimes end and there are children caught in the middle of the marriage but it may be worst for the parents to stay together simply for the children’s sake. However when parents do divorce the children are the most effected by the divorce. Often enough the divorce causes children to feel displaced and also to have feelings that their world is coming to an end. These children tend to grow into adults with either extreme emotional detachment and self-esteem issues or they will have strong family values and try to prevent the cycle from repeating itself but the majority of these children grow up suffering from the divorce.
When a couple with a child chooses to get a divorce this can have major impact on a child at any age. There are many causes of stress throughout the divorce process that can negatively affect children. First, negative reactions and behaviors are dependent upon the situation before the divorce. Some studies show that how much parents fight, how it is done, how it is resolved, and what precautions are taken to protect the children from it's effects are the most important predictors of child adjustment (Kelly, 2000). Meaning that if children are exposed to fights about custody, money, or the failing marriage they could feel the repercussions of their parents conflict. Next, divorce can cause children to have heightened fear...
Children are psychologically and socially affected by divorce and may need counseling either at the time of their parent’s divorce or in the future. They may react instantly by getting lower grades or becoming depressed or anxious. Younger children may begin to cling to the parent that remains in the home with them for they fear that both parents will eventually leave them. Older children may begin to rebel or become extremely disobedient and disrespectful. You may see unpleasant attitudes develop and they can become unsocial and no longer desire to be around their friends. Most children feel guilty for their parent’s ...
In the world we live in today, divorce has unfortunately become a normal thing in our lives. Many married couples are getting divorced for many reasons; problems in the marriage, either a spouse having an affair, a loss of feelings, and many other types of complications. Many divorces involve children who are young and due to their age do not understand what is really going on. We all know someone who has dealt with divorce. Children are the ones who are typically affected the most by the divorce and they will have to learn to cope with their parent’s divorce at such a young age, affecting them in positive or negative ways.
There are a lot of emotional tolls that come from it as well. The divorce alone is not the only thing that causes children to act in such a negative way. Fighting that occurs in the household causes increased reactions to the situation (Oppawsky, 2000). As anyone would guess precursors to divorce and divorce lead to more crying. It is not just more crying though, it also children are crying for longer periods of time (Oppawsky, 2000). Thinking about it, it makes sense for this to occur. Divorce is a sad time for any child because no one wants to see his or her parents split up. In Oppawsky’s (2000), report children also experienced different variations of sadness as well as feeling shame with what was occurring in their family unit. Problems with emotional instability arise when children start to express anger towards their parents. Depending on how conflicts were being handled at home and a child’s coping abilities a number of negative feelings could be expressed towards parents (Oppawsky, 2000). One little girl recalled her situation “a terrifying time of loneliness” because she felt so much hatred to her parents she wanted nothing to do with them (Oppawsky, 2000). The biggest emotional response from children was fear. Being in the situation children did not know what was going to come from it. They feared the unknown, losing contact a parent, and worst of all they feared death (Oppawsky, 2000). Some children
Children react differently yet similarly in divorce. Every child caught up in the distress of divorce has a hard time coping with it and imagining their life without a parent. Their anxiety levels peak as they feel they are going to be abandoned. They experience feelings of loneliness due to the loss of the other parent. Different children go through these emotions at different levels and at different times depending on the child’s age. How bad or how well children handle the divorce depends on how the situation is handled. It can throw the child's entire life into a whirlwind.