The Positive and Negative Psychological Effects of Divorce - Research Paper Example

 The Positive and Negative Psychological Effects of Divorce Student Name Student ID Lecturer Submission Date University Divorce brings a number of problems for all concerned. The individuals (man and woman) who are essentially in a relationship are usually the ones who undergo mental trauma and torture. Not only that, but the children are the worst hit, as they experience problems which are of a psychological nature. One can easily fathom that there are more negatives than any positives which can be thought of whilst concerning the case of divorce. The children who are below the age of 18 feel that they have been hard done by. They want their parents to live in harmony with each other; however this is not the case when parents decide to break away from one another (Greif 1997). Research suggests that divorce creates such an unending psychological effect on the children that they feel nothing would go their way in the times that will follow. This research is evidenced on the fact that the psychological studies have been proven as being correct with the passage of time. Divorce does create real problems for the young ones, as they have issues in discussing their family matters with their friends and colleagues, both at domestic front as well as at school. Divorce is an element of destruction which has a mental angle more than the physical one. Children recollect images of the past when their parents broke up and hence separated from each other for reasons that are either unknown to them or they have very little knowledge about. From a psychological perspective, the children under 18 years of age are affected more than the parents who were involved in a divorce situation. There is a scar on the children as they intend to spend a blissful life, however the same does not come about that easily. A number of children hide their emotions and do not speak to people about what they are going through. This is reminiscent of the fact that they mature at a very young age as they had already experienced so much so soon. Many children even turn into pessimists and fall into depression. From an educational perspective, the children falling short on their expected grades at school. They forget what is asked of them and how they should cope up with the changing times. They have domestic issues to think about, and they do so regularly. This is a very unfortunate aspect, and one which requires consistent monitoring by their guardians and teachers. What essentially happens is that they do not care much about their studies and hence have a hard time meeting the expectations of the people who are near them (Gordon 1999). They lag behind in their educational journey and even drop out of school at a very young age. The need is to take care of their mental issues so that they know what would be of use in their coming times, and how they can cope with the mind related problems in a head on manner. These children require their parents to surround them at all times, as they are young and have very little knowledge about the world they live in. Now if they are let high and dry so early in their life times, there could be serious issues. These children are usually reliant on one of their parents to take care of them and be with them at all times. They cry their heart out in order to see their parents being together and themselves being a part of a well-knitted family. In order to achieve the same, their thinking basis gets disjointed and they start visualizing things which they have never imagined in their lives before. It is understandable that they experience so much so soon that some of the kids undergo serious traumatic situations at a very early age, which hampers their growth and development in essence. Again from an academic perspective and one that is attached pretty closely with their professional basis, they fall short on the count of advancing rapidly within their career basis. They feel that they have been hard done by and thus experience does not mean any thing of value for them, which is a sad state of affair as far as their professional grooming, is concerned. Often they indulge in acts which are unbecoming of them at such a young age. Some of them fall into the trap of drugs while others start drinking alcohol and cigarettes. Their whole ideological basis is affected in more ways than one. From a genetic perspective, the psychological factors do take place when they feel that divorce is something that hindered their growth and developmental basis, and hence they start feeling left out of the whole equation (Amato 2000). For this, they find out ways and means through which they could either resort to better means of having their own marital lives which are free of domestic issues and fights, or just believe that divorce is the real reason whenever a fight erupts. This is an understanding that has come about after a number of research studies have been done on the related subject. In the end, it would be fair to suggest that divorce is not the only reason behind the psychological and behavioral problems that the children undergo at such a tender age. They experience similar problems whenever they find out that their parents are unhappy with each other, and that their domestic front is a place where fights crop up for all the wrong reasons. The stress that these children take back is so much that it literally plays havoc within their lives. More than anything else, it is the manner in which they counter the hurdles that makes them feel negative and pessimistic about the whole situation at hand (Teyber 2001). All said and done, it is the duty of the parents and their sole responsibility to ensure that divorce in no way affects the kids’ mindset. However if they know that their children will experience traumatic times, they should mend their ways and resolve to live with each other in a peaceful way. References Amato, P (2000). The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 62 Gordon, L (1999). Explaining the Higher Incidence of Adjustment Problems among Children of Divorce Compared with Those in Two-parent Families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 61 Greif, G (1997). Out of Touch: When Parents and Children Lose Contact after Divorce. Oxford University Press Teyber, E (2001). Helping Children Cope with Divorce. Jossey-Bass Read More