The Impact of Divorce on Children - Research Paper Example

 The Impact of Divorce on Children Abstract Divorce is a significant social problem in the modern world. It refers to the cessation of legal responsibilities of a marriage and disintegration of all bonds of marriage shared by the married couple. Notably, divorce cases have been on the rise in the recent past. Ideally, a divorce seeks to end a bad marriage. However, in most cases, a divorce derives pain and suffering to the divorcees and their immediate families. Indeed, divorce derives negative effects on the finances and distorts living arrangements and household jobs that relate to the divorcees. Although, divorce affects a wide range of people, research shows that children from divorced marriages suffer most compared to other parties in a marriage. Such children suffer from emotional and physical problems. Divorce also leads to negative effects on the children’s’ cognitive skills and no cognitive traits. It also leads to low levels of romantic competence and sexual experience as well as feelings of loneliness. Additionally, divorce also leads to loss of child’s emotional security and lack of basic social skills. Moreover, such children are prone to sickness and have a greater chance of getting divorced in life. This paper expounds on the effects of divorce on children. Divorce refers to the dissolution or termination of a legal marital union by court of law or through a legal process. Divorce relates to cessation of legal responsibilities of a marriage and disintegration of all bonds of marriage shared by the married couple. The court sets the term for a divorce. Additionally, divorce laws vary across the world. Assuredly, divorce represents breakup in a marriage and allows married couples to marry again if they wish (National Institutes of Health, 2013). Before, granting a divorce application, the court must establish that one partner violated the rights of the other and both parties agree to divorce (Drewianka, 2008). Notably, this is because cases of divorce have been on the rise in the recent past where in 2008, the divorce rate in US was 8.2 (per 1000 population) (Difurio et al, 2012). Ideally, divorce is a controversial topic that attracts the concern of the media and the academicians. As such, there have been various studies on divorce and its effects to different parties in a marriage context (Difurio et al, 2012). However, divorce is challenging for everyone although is effects are variant among individuals. The effects may depend on the types of divorce which include summary divorce, uncontested divorce, collaborative divorce, and mediated divorce. In fact, even though divorce seeks to end a bad marriage, it does not derive happiness but pain and suffering (National Institutes of Health, 2013). Indeed, divorce leads to anger, denial, sorrow, and sadness as separated couples seek to cope with the divorce. Generally, divorce adversely affects finances and distorts living arrangements and household jobs (National Institutes of Health, 2013). Nevertheless, the greatest victims of divorce are children who have no say on a divorce process yet they suffer the consequences of a divorce. Indeed, the number of children suffering from the effects of a divorce are seemingly vibrant and on an increase (Fagan & Rector, n.y). In the US, more than one million children suffer from the divorce of their children (Fagan & Rector, n.y). This figure increases every year. In fact, in 2008, a study showed that about 67 % of the divorcees confirmed that their children suffered from their divorce (Wallerstein, 2009). Ideally, divorce subjects children under 18 years old to various types of risks which manifest in emotional and physical problems. A divorce is generally stressful and confusing to children as they cannot fathom the prospect of their parents living separately especially after having experienced their marriage. Therefore, parents help their children to cope with the divorce by providing for the children, satisfying their needs with a hopeful and positive attitude. Nevertheless, this is not an easy feat since the divorced parents are also struggling to cope with the divorce. Children of all ages suffer these consequences. As such, parents have been trying to help their children cope with the divorce to no avail. This leads to encounters of adverse effects of the divorce in child development. One notable effect of divorce on children under 18 years of age is negative influence on the children’s’ cognitive skills and no cognitive traits (Kim, 2011). Indeed, children of divorced parents record poor performance in school and in extra curriculum activities than children from stable families (Wallerstein, 2009). This is as a result of the stressful life and the rebellious nature of the children from divorced marriages. These children lack the sobriety of the mind that academic success requires. At the same time, divorced parents will lack the time and capacity to monitor the children’s performance and offer assistance with the homework thus jeopardizing the children’s chance of academic success. More so, divorced parents will face challenges in affording the tuition fees, library fees, computer fees, and other fees which promote academic success (Wallerstein, 2009). Additionally, the financial constraints that emanate from a divorce may force divorced parents and their children to live in neighborhoods that are not conducive for learning or that does not enjoy school programs coverage thus demeaning the children’s academic performance. On the other hand, adolescents from divorced families manifest low levels of romantic competence and sexual experience (Shulman et al, 2012). This weakness is shown in the adolescent’s attitudes, behaviors, and ways of handling sexual relationships. Ideally, parents have a responsibility of ensuring and informing their children on the way to handle sexual relationships to avoid unwanted pregnancies and unethical sexual behaviors (Wallerstein, 2009). However, upon a divorce, parents lack this capacity and hence children from divorced families encounter difficulties in handling and committing themselves to romantic and marital relationships (Shulman et al, 2012). As such, a divorce exposes adolescents to greater sexual risks. In addition, children from divorced parents may end up getting less parental care and supervision. This is due to the fact that a divorce will limit one parent from accessing and living with the children. As a result, such children become prone to pressure from their which enhances their chances of engaging in unethical behaviors like smoking and alcoholism. Furthermore, divorce leads to encounters of consistent feelings of loneliness among the children of divorced parents (Wallerstein, 2009). Indeed, it is common for child to lose a parent after a divorce. In many cases, the child remains with the mother and therefore fathers have minimal contact with their fathers after the divorce which propagates loneliness among the children. Similarly, after a divorce, mothers will have to work longer to meet the children’s needs and thus lack enough time to be with the children which amounts to loneliness. Indeed, the mothers can even decide to start dating again leading to a feeling of loneliness among the children. Moreover, the children will have to lose contact with the grandparents after the divorce and thus the children will miss them and feel lonely. Ultimately, a divorce may force the parents to relocate to another place thus leading to loss of friendship and hence loneliness among the children (Wallerstein, 2009). A divorce leads to loss of child’s emotional security as the children fear that both parents will abandon them. Indeed, a divorce poses an emotional challenge to the children since they are never prepared for it and neither do they have the capacity to handle it. Most children tend to think that they contributed to their parents’ divorce. This leads to a feeling of distress, anger, and uncertainty which negatively affects the children’s’ emotions (Wallerstein, 2009). This may lead to depression, poor academic performance, social problems, and poor health. At the same time, children from divorced parents will face more social problems compared to children from stable families. Indeed, children from divorced families are hostile, poor in social relationships, aggressive, stressed, unmotivated, and have very few friends. More so, such children rarely involve themselves in extracurricular activities and therefore not social. This exposes them to social problems which in the long run may result to depression and murder in extreme cases. Children from divorced children also fail to acquire basic social skills at home and in school since they are not social and seemingly adopt the violent communication skills used by their parents in the struggled marriage (Wallerstein, 2009). As a result, such children lack sufficient preparation for life success. This may lead to social stigma which exposes them to more health, moral, and emotional challenges. As such, divorce condemns them to social and life failures. Additionally, divorce derives adverse spiritual and religious effects on the children from the divorced marriage than those from stable families. Indeed, children from divorced marriages rarely consider themselves as spiritual or religious (Wallerstein, 2009). Actually, the rarely attend churches or mosques since they tend to believe that they can solve their problems without the help of any religion. They feel that religion does not address the significant t issues troubling their lives. Furthermore, children from divorced marriages are susceptible to sickness and have a greater chance of getting divorced in life. This is because these children lack the competence handle romantic and marital relations since their parents never taught them these skills. Ultimately, when a court of law grants a divorce request, children may be forced to change their names from a legal perspective. Indeed, the children will have to adopt the surname of their mother or that of their step-father. Therefore, it is clear that divorce has numerous adverse effects on children less than 18 years of age. As such, parents should seek to avoid divorces or should otherwise help their children to cope with the divorce. References Difurio, F., Willis, L., & Goode, T. (2012). A regional analysis of divorce rates. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(13). Drewianka, S. (2008). Divorce law and family formation. Journal of Population Economics, 21(2), 485-503. Fagan, P., & Rector, R. (n.y).The Effects of Divorce on America. Retrieved from: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2000/06/the-effects-of-divorce-on-america Kim, H. S. (2011). Consequences of parental divorce for child development. American Sociological Review, 76(3), 487-511. National Institutes of Health. (2013). Divorce. Retrieved from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/divorce.html Shulman, S., Zlotnik, A., Shachar-shapira, L., Connolly, J., & Bohr, Y. (2012). Adolescent daughters' romantic competence: The role of divorce, quality of parenting, and maternal romantic history. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(5), 593-606. Wallerstein, J. (2009). What are the possible consequences of divorce for children? Retrieved from: http://www.divorce.usu.edu/files/uploads/Lesson5.pdf Read More