From their perspective: Children dealing with divorce

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The decision between a husband and wife to end their marriage due to irreconcilable differences has become an issue of epidemic proportions in the world today. Divorce is affecting people of all ages from the oldest to the youngest, tearing families apart. While the husband and wife getting the divorce are putting an end to what many of them once thought would be the best thing that would ever happened to them, it is their children who reap the most severe consequences. Children who were once looked after by both parents must adjust to living with one parent or moving back and forth between the two along with numerous other adjustments. The effects of divorce are not limited to practical adjustments alone, but research also indicates that children who go through the divorce of their parents experience physical and psychological troubles as well. According to recent research if current divorce rates remain steady, one in four children will go through the divorce of their parents before they are sixteen (Doweling & Gorell-Barnes, 1999). Another statistic shows that between 1972 and 1997 more than a million young children were involved in divorce each year (Zinsmeister, 1997). It is imperative in our society that is experiencing divorce so rampantly that we understand through research and observation the effects divorce has on children.

The effects of divorce on children has been an issue of great controversy among professionals and parents alike. Research is inconclusive in many areas but enough evidence has been gathered to conclude that divorce does indeed have an impact on children. The effects of divorce, how much a child is impacted and how long the impact of divorce lasts, hinges largely on the age of the child when they ex...

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...hat a child may experience after a family breakup (Jost & Robinson, 1991). Though the research presented here has focused on the negative effects divorce has on children there are instances where children hardly experience any ill effects from divorce. This is usually the case when the child’s parents are in abusive relationships or they are able to continue healthy relationships with both their parents. Sadly this is the exception and not the rule for children dealing with divorce. Despite the fact that there are several different opinions concerning the effects divorce has on children the majority of researchers agree that having married parents offers many benefits to children. These include but are not limited to, a higher standard of living, exposure to effective parenting, less stress overall and are more likely to succeed in school (McGuiness, 2006).

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