The Impact of Divorce on Children - Research Paper Example

 The Impact of Divorce on Children ABSTRACT Divorce has a profound impact on the mental, emotional, and physical health of the children involved, and represents a significant public health concern. The implications of divorce for individual children, parents, and society as a whole are not well-addressed by public policy, and there are many studies yet to be attempted regarding the marital conflicts which lead to the dissolution of some marriages. Divorce is a highly complex issue which can have many different effects on children of all ages as they undergo the experience, as well as long afterward. Most couples separate after a considerable period of marital upheaval, so it may be more accurate to think of divorce as a series of interrelated events rather than a single, easily categorized experience. (Emery, 2004) The effects which have been noted in children varied considerably with several factors including but not limited to a child's age, their gender, and even the number of siblings in their family. Being such a complex issue, it is not always a simple matter to tease apart individual correlations, to say nothing of ultimate causes, of divorce outcomes. Several impacts of parental separations are immediate and obvious, such as changes in the child's living arrangements or financial situation. Others are more difficult to quantify, such as the effects divorce may have on the emotional states of children, their senses of self, their friendships or their later intimate relationships. The number of children who experience their parents' divorce each year has been rising for some time, and is now recognized as a significant public health issue. (Wolchik et al., 2002) It is extremely difficult to quantify the full impact of divorce on children for several reasons. According to Cowan and Cowan, most studies of divorce's impact on children have the following notable flaws: 1) They were begun after the divorce or separation had occurred; 2) Most studies do not assess the impact of parents in a highly conflicted relationship who stay together, instead comparing only married and divorced parents; 3) Divorce can have a positive effect on some lives, while it has a negative effect on others. Research has not yet managed to explain under what circumstances a divorce will have a negative or positive impact (nor the extent of that impact) on children. (Cowan & Cowan, 2006) It has been well-documented that divorce can have a decidedly negative impact on a child's mental health well into adulthood. As long as 30 years after the separation of their parents, adults who were children when their parents divorced may continue to experience anxiety, depression, and trouble connecting intimately in their lives with spouses or their own children. (Estimates of the number of children who experience divorce each year vary widely, but most agree that at least one million children see their parents divorce each year, joining the over 40 million children and adults whose parents have already separated. (Emery, 2004) “Parental divorce is experienced by 1.5 million children each year in the United States” according to Wolchik et al. (2002) Custody is a common source of stress for children and adults when a couple with children decide to separate. “Tragically, it rarely works out very well. It is usually extremely difficult for the parents to work out a satisfactory arrangement, and even more difficult for them to fully abide by whatever arrangement is made. And when the situation is problematical for them, this inevitably causes the children to suffer.” (Meyerhoff, 2005) Later Meyerhoff calls joint custody, an agreement which arranges for both parents to share equal custody of a child, “a failed experiment,” but says that most parents become extremely distressed when primary custody is awarded to their partner. (Meyerhoff, 2005) Children of divorce often continue to suffer for many years after the custody disputes have been settled. In the introduction to their book written for adult children of divorce Zimmerman & Thayer noted: "The memories associated with your parents' divorce can affect your feelings about yourself and your feelings and fears about important relationships." (Zimmerman & Thayer, 2003) These feelings often include increased reports of “guilt, pain, anger and depression” in comparison with adults who were raised by their married natural parents, as well as a staggering 57 percent divorce rate for adult children of divorce. (Zimmerman, 2003) ` According to Bramlett, second marriages are even more likely to fail than first marriages. (Bramlet, 2002) The impact of subsequent divorces on children has not been well-addressed in the literature. In their Six-year follow up report, Wolchik et al. Noted that “Compared with their peers with nondivorced parents, adolescents with divorced parents are more likely to have mental health problems, drop out of school, and become pregnant. The negative impact of parental divorce during childhood and adolescence can persist into adulthood, with higher rates of mental health problems and mortality.” (Wolchik et al., 2002) Some children appear to be more resilient than others to the realities of divorce. Even so, these children may experience lasting negative effects from their parents' divorces. In The Truth About Children and Divorce, Emery relates information gleaned from a survey of outwardly well-adjusted college students whose parents had divorced years earlier. These students were screened for mental health issues. The students questioned were all succeeding in a highly demanding university environment. Though the students selected for the actual study as well as the control group all reported low levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety, they related the following: 73% of respondents believed that they would have been a different person if their parents had not divorced. 49% said that they worried about big events, such as graduations and weddings, when both parents would be present. 48% felt that they had a harder childhood than most people, compared with 14% of children of married parents. 44% said that their parents divorce still caused struggles for them. 28% wondered if their father even loved them, compared with 10% of children of married parents. (Emery, 2004) These findings suggest that even for children who appear to fare well after a divorce, the impact of parental divorce is significant. Nearly half of the most resilient children, as determined by continued academic success, felt that their childhood was more difficult than that of their peers, and that they were concerned about big events at which both parents would be present. (Emery, 2004) They are just as likely as their “less-resilient” siblings to experience long term implications for their mental, emotional and physical health. “Dozens of scientists have shown that the quality of parent-child relationships and the conflict between parents-- married or divorced-- are the most important predictors of psychological problems in children.” (Emery, 2004) Divorce is apparently a late symptom of marital problems, which can build up over a period of years. Children often react to the stress of parental conflict long before an actual physical separation takes place. In fact, troubled family relationships are thought to be responsible for the majority of the emotional problems of children, whether their parents are married or divorced. (Emery 2004) Most of the research on divorce has focused on helping children of divorce to recover from the chaos parental separations inflict on their lives. Programs intended to counsel couples, single parents, children, and parent-child groups all exist, and have varying rates of success. Much of the scholarly literature focuses on parental responses and what they can do to minimize the suffering of their children. Some of the studies have focused parental interactions with one another (in the presence of the children as well as alone) while other studies focus more on parent-child relationships and interactions. Very little seems geared toward maintaining intact marriages. Most of the research and literature I found indicated that divorce was inevitable and that resources should be directed toward assisting children after the fact rather than toward preventing divorces or high-risk marriages from forming in the first place. Reference List Bramlett, M.D. and Mosher, W.D. (2002) Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the United States. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health and Statistics. 23(22). 2002. Cowan, P.A. and Cowan, C.P. (2006). Developmental Psychopathology from Family Systems and Family Risk Factors Perspectives: Implications for Family Research, Practice and Politics. D. Ciccetti and D.J. Cohen, ed. Developmental Psychopathology: Volume one: Theory and method. (2nd ed.) (530-587). Meyerhoff, M.K. (2005) Separate Parenting. Pediatrics for Parents 22(6), 8-10. Emery, R.E. The Truth About Children and Divorce.(2004) New York, NY: Viking. Wolchik, S.A.; Sandler, I.N.; Millsap, R.E.; Plummer, B.A.; Greene, S.M.; Anderson; . . . Haine, R.A. (2002) Six-year follow-up of preventive interventions for children of divorce: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 288(15), 1874-1881. doi:10.1001/jama.288.15.1874 Zimmerman, J. and Thayer, E.S. Adult Children of Divorce: How to overcome the legacy of your parents' break up and enjoy love, trust and intimacy. (2003) Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. Read More