How does Divorce affect the well-being of Children? Divorce is “the ending of a marriage by a legal process”, (Merriam-Webster.com, 2012). Divorce is sadly commonplace in our society today. Over time, much like erosion in nature, a sequence of events or constant conflict eats away at the fabric of marriage. “In many cases it is preceded by a lengthy period of conflict between spouses. It is reasonable to expect that when this predisposition conflict, and the corresponding emotional upset on the part of the parents, may cause problems for children” (Furstenberg & Cherlin, 1991, p. 63) Adults seeking divorce often overlook the impact on their children’s well-being. The affects prior to divorce and after are far reaching. Depending on how negatively …show more content…
Many areas affected are often affect but to varying degrees. More currently, studies have also concluded that functional stability can offset the negative effects of family changes. Structure and consistency is important to help minimize adjustment issues. Minimizing changes in a child’s routine, continuity of current extracurricular activities, schools, and friends can help to reduce the socio-economical affects caused by divorce. Parents also benefit by minimizing changes for themselves as well. A social circle consisting of friends and family provide the emotional support to help them to adjust also. Maintaining the “status quo” as much as possible seems to benefit the family as whole (Phillips, …show more content…
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Divorce can be caused by problems such as drugs, adultery, abuse, and money. The United States is a fast-paced country with little to no time to spend on the basic family values it was founded upon. Jobs are more demanding, kids are spending most of their time with people other than their parents, and the economy drains marriages by causing worry and stress. The foundation upon which marriage was built has been shaken.
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Sobolewski, J.M., & Amato, P.R. (2007). Parents’ discord and divorce, parent-child relationships and subjective well-being in early adulthood: is feeing close to two parents always better than feeling close to one? Social Forces, 85(3), 1105-1124.
Divorce should be harder to obtain due to the effect that it has on children the main effect it has on the children is depression. “ In the short term divorce is always troublesome for children Mavis Hetherington videotaped and scrutinized the workings of 1400 divorced families since the early 1970’s. Hetherington pinpoints a crisis period of about two years in the immediate aftermath of separation when the adults, preoccupied with their own lives, typically takes their eye off parenting just when their children are reeling from loss and feeling bewildered” (Hethrington 2). This article states that the short term effect of divorce affects the kid deep because they feel that they lost one forever and in those 1400 many of the kids felt the effect of the divorce. “Wallerstein has told us that divorce abruptly ends kids’ childhood, filling it with loneliness and worry about their parents, and hurting them prematurely and recklessly into adolescence. (Wallerstein 2).” This later affects the kids life because they try to think of happy memories they had but really all they can think about is the parent that they loss due to the divorce. “Contrary to the popular perceptions, the alternative to most divorces is not life in a war zone. Though more than 50 percent of all marriages currently end in divorce, experts tell us that only about 15 percent of all unions involve high levels of conflict. In the vast number of divorces, then, there is no gross strife or violence that could warp a youngster’s childhood. The majority of marital break-ups are driven by a quest for greener grass—and in these cases the children will almost always be worse off. (Zinsmeister 2)” this proves to me that when people get a divorce they most of the time don’t ...
Most people, when thinking about divorce, worry about the impact that it has on the children that are involved. Even though children are most likely better off if totally incompatible parents separate instead of staying together, divorce is about loss and change, and it is still hard for children. Everyone knows that divorce has its effects on children. There are three different sources that try to explain these effects. Graham Blaine Jr. states that divorce is a threat to all children, whereas Rhona Mahony states that divorce is not always the cause of behavioral or academic problems in children coming from divorced families. Yvette Walczak and Sheila Burns state that the extent of the damage can be determined by the parents and their methods of explanation to the children.
Overall, divorce is a devastating financial disaster that no one should ever have to go through unless they have too. Lawyers can swindle you out of a great majority of your money, your child or children will develop connection issues, and filing for divorce is overall a more strenuous process than marriage itself. If people stop getting married at such a young age and when they are not ready, divorce will substantially decrease in America. A happy marriage is a strong marriage and all marital issues should be resolved amongst each other depleting the need for divorce.
The problems of the family are far more complex than what the popular debate often suggest.” The simple allegation is that the problem and instability children gain does not matter about the family situation, but comes within how the child is raised, which affects the behavioral skills the child will develop as he or she grows. We must acknowledge that it can be difficult for one parent to raise a child by themselves for many reasons. A single-parent must work full time to be able to afford and provide for not only themselves but for their children. They also must be able to still communicate and spend time with their child in order to obtain an emotional bond with one another, which is a proven fact that does affect the child's well-being.
Divorce is a very common word in today's society. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage or a complete or radical severance of closely connected things"(Pickett, 2000). This dissolution of marriage has increased very rapidly in the past fifty years. In 1950 the ratio of divorce to marriage was one in every four; in 1977 that statistic became one in two. Currently one in every two first marriages results in divorce. In second marriages that figure is considerably higher, with a 67% average (National Vital Statistics Report, 2001). One critical aspect of divorce is often not taken into consideration: How it affects children. Every year 1.1 million children are affected by divorce (Benjamin, 2000). Children from divorce or separation often exhibit behavioral and long-term adjustment problems (Kelly, 2000). Throughout this paper I will discuss divorces effects on children at different age levels, how they react, and what can be done to help them.
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Divorce happens almost every day in America, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds, according to Irvin McKinley (2012). McKinley goes on to write that that is nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year. Sometimes, it’s the way of life we can’t control people’s marriage and make it a better relationship, but we certainly want to make it less tragic to the ones who will get affected. The main cause of divorce is very simple it is either the lack of romantic feelings or cheating on the husband or wife. Since divorce is an ongoing condition and has been increasing lately, people have begun to look at it as a pathetic thing and normal. Regardless of the causes, no one wins in divorce because it impacts negatively in many ways. Therefore, divorce mostly negatively affects the children, wife, and husband in a family.
Divorce is a transition for families and it will take some time adjusting to the divorce life or having divorced parents. Inevitably, the whole family is affected by a divorce. One way the family is affected by divorce is when children do not understand the concept of divorce and they develop emotional and behavior problems (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). Children may not know how to handle the transition of divorce and will act out because they feel instability and confusion. Another way the family can be affected by divorce is when each member of the family
As defined in the article “Single-Parent Families” on the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family website, “Single-parent families are families where a parent lives with dependent children, either alone or in a larger household, without a spouse or partner” (Single Parent). Ever since the latter half of the twentieth century, there has been a rapid and drastic increase in the number of single-parent families both nationally and globally. It is shown in Mary Plunkett’s article “World’s 10 Most Divorced Nations” posted on the TheRichest website, that America is ranked 10th on the list of world’s most divorced nations with a 53% divorce rate (Plunket). Although other nations have higher divorce rates than the United States does, it is
Divorce, in history, has always been considered as a deviance of society. However, in the modern world, where people have senses of individualism, divorce has become a phenomenon. There are numerous reasons for divorce, from not knowing each other well enough before marriage, lack of money, long distance relationships, frequent disagreements to partners...
“The Future of Children” writers Adam Thomas, Ph.D., and Isabel Sawhill write that “single-parent families may benefit from incentives like tax cuts and child support, but they still earn less than two-parent families.” The research also indicates that financial stability guarantees that the parent provides for a child’s basic needs. In a recent study, researchers surveyed 13,500 mothers to meter children’s behavior. The mothers who participated were instructed to note their children’s energy levels, behavior, emotional problems and relationships with friends and peers as “normal” or “abnormal”. After gathering the information from the mothers, the researchers assigned the children into three group categories labeling them from “normal” to “serious behavioral problems.” The researchers found that stepchildren and children with one parent were significantly more likely to misbehave. Multiple studies have validated that children do best in households with both biological parents, but raising a child in a two-parent home is not always possible or the best choice. Single parenthood affects children, but not all of the effects are