...The Impact of Divorce on Children Under the Age of 18 Jason Cruise Liberty University Online Psych 210-D04 LUO Abstract In the United States, divorced couples have become the norm of a culture so diverse and self-absorbed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that approximately 46% of all marriages end in divorce. As a result, children often suffer irreparable damage emotionally, socially, and academically. This paper seeks to examine the vast biosocial, psychosocial, and cognitive aspects related to divorced parents and the stressors and consequences there within. In addition, many children are drastically affected by the three periods that occur during a divorce. The results incur that, although sometimes the situation improves, most children often experience lower academic success, as well as decreases in their biosocial, psychosocial, and cognitive development. The Impact of Divorce on Children under the Age of 18 Overview of Divorce Divorce is a common reality in every country and culture throughout the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that approximately 46% of all U.S. marriages end in divorce (Marriage and Divorce, 2013). Therefore, researchers have placed a lot of focus on divorce over other methods of terminating a cohabiting relationship (Berger, 2011). In addition, Berger (2011) says, “Divorce occurs because at least one half of a couple believes that he or she would be happier not married” (p....
Words: 1702 - Pages: 7
...The Impact of Divorce on Children Sociology 210 Amy Totten Abstract How do children react to divorce? In most recent times, the impact of divorce on children has emerged as a problem of concern. Divorce may be the most devastating situation that can happen to children. Alarmingly, studies have revealed that 50 percent of children under the age of 18 will experience the dissolution of their parents’ marriage. When a divorce occurs, parents tend to forget about the child and do not realize how much of a negative impact that it has on the child. Children already go through enough stress of just everyday situations and to add to it only make things worse. The impact of divorce will affect each child differently, but all will experience some type of emotional distress. This paper will provide a detailed description of the emotional and psychological effects of divorce on infants; school aged children and adolescents, behavioral development in children of divorce, and strategies to help children cope with divorce. The Impact of Divorce on Children The traditional lifestyle of living with both parents is almost rare in today’s society. Divorce is a very tragic situation especially when it involves children. As the world turns, the divorce rates continue to rise. Studies have revealed that 50 percent of children under the age of 18 will experience divorce. In the process of the divorce parents really don’t understand that through divorce it affects them but it...
Words: 759 - Pages: 4
...marriages do experience distress or even dissolution. Marriages can begin happily but divorce can end them painfully. The process of divorce becomes emotionally and financially draining for those involved. These emotions can be even more devastating if there are any children involved. It is the children that suffer the most and experience the harshest backlash, and divorce often emotionally scar them for the rest of their lives. One of the biggest problems that surround divorce is what occurs to the individuals after the proceedings. Men are more likely to live a more normal and stable life after divorce, however women often get swindled in poverty. Men and women have different gender roles and more then likely it is the man in the marriage who brings in most of the income to the household. Through an examination of divorce and looking at gender inequities, women and children are left in poverty, and family law reforms it is obvious that divorce has a major negative impact on women. Divorce rates are at an all time high, and they continue to increase. It has been estimated that 45% of marriages end in divorce (Eichler, 1991, # 60). This shows that despite the way one feels about the other, nearly 1 out of every 2 marriages will end in a disaster, but more importantly this leaves a women in an unfortunate position. The results and set backs of divorce vary for men, women and especially for the children. The least of the tensions are with the men. With most of the income already coming...
Words: 1807 - Pages: 8
...Does Divorce Have Devastating Impacts on Children? Divorce is a hard pill to swallow no matter what age a child is. Children are like sponges they soak up everything. The immediate impacts that divorce has on children are loneliness, fear and worry, sadness, anger, guilt, and the feeling of being rejected (Riggs & Tweedell 2010). The long term effects are a child’s social development meaning maintaining friendships may become hard especially ones with the opposite sex, which in the end can lead to a lot of unhealthy relationships because children are trying to fill a void that was once there. Not only this but some reports have proven that children who come from divorced homes are more than likely to become divorced themselves (Arreola, J. 2013). Some parents’ really do not realize that divorce can cause children to feel guilt or embarrassed of what they are going through with their family. It affects them emotionally causing them to have behavior issues in and out of school. This can lead to the child dropping out of school or finding comfort in other activities such as drugs or alcohol. An article by Lauren Hansen called 9 Negative Effects Divorce Reportedly Has on Children stated, “In 2009, the law firm Mishcon de Reya polled 2,000 people who had experienced divorce as a child in the preceding 20 years. And the results did not paint a positive picture of their experiences. The subjects reported witnessing aggression (42 percent), were forced to comfort an upset parent...
Words: 532 - Pages: 3
...Effects of Divorce Nancy Marie Brown January 1, 2002 "In the 1970s, divorce escalated like crazy. Women were entering the labor force in incredible numbers. Are those two things related," asks Alan Booth, "or aren't they? "And if divorce is not related to women working, what is it related to?" Booth, a Penn State sociologist, has been asking that question for 20 years. He himself has been divorced and remarried in the meantime, as has his co-investigator on the National Longitudinal Study of Marriage, Paul Amato. More to the point, they and their colleagues have amassed hours of survey data on 2,000 married men and women, interviewed by telephone, paper, or computer survey up to six times over the 20 years, "through a whole marital history, if you like," says Amato. "Some people in the study are on their third or fourth marriages. We've followed them through divorce, singlehood, and remarriage." They've also interviewed many of their children. Then in 2000, the research team interviewed a completely new random sample of 2,100 married individuals. "So we can look at two different kinds of change," Amato explains: "How individual marriages change over time, and how the population of married couples has changed between 1980 and 2000." Their results are changing the way people think about marriage and divorce, and particularly about the effects of divorce on children. "I think it's our study," says Booth, "that put the capstone on the idea that divorce can be bad for children. That's...
Words: 2034 - Pages: 9
...seconds of those five minutes a divorce will occur. At the end of today there will be a total of 6,646 divorces and in one week there will be a total of 46, 523 divorces (Portnoy, 2008). I am here today to be the voice of the children whose parents are divorced and transform the children’s lives but I cannot do this alone and I will need your help. Today we will be discussing the issues, obstacles, strengths of children whose parents got divorced, challenges, and concerns. The issues and obstacles are simple 50 percentof all marriages end in divorce and 40 percent of those divorces are people with children. 90 percent of families with children who are autistic get divorced, and 22 percent of parents with ADHD will divorce by the time the child is eight (Ellison, Glenn, Marquardt, & Zhai, 2007). If these statistics are not alarming enough take the time to reflect on your experience with divorce. Whether it was your parents’ divorce, your friends divorce, your boyfriends or husbands divorce or your divorce how did it affect you or your loved one? What actions did you or loved one take to try to understand the divorce? Did you or your loved one act out in school, feel depressed, blamed yourself for the divorce or perhaps did you or your loved one lose his or her sense of belonging? The issues and obstacles surrounding divorce are that the children are the victims. Children suffer physical, emotional, verbal, and psychological trauma. Children are left without a choice but...
Words: 1135 - Pages: 5
...Divorce: Causes and Effects The most common reasons people get a divorce is the lack of commitment, too much arguing, infidelity, marrying too young, unrealistic expectations, and having financial issues, lack of equality in the relationship, lack of preparation for marriage, and abuse. Some of these problems can be fixed and divorce prevented. These days so many marriages end in divorce, and divorce becomes the norm than ever before. As we known, divorce is the termination of a marital union, the canceling of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage between married couples. A Lot of people would think carefully before they get married. Most married couples are able to maintain their relationship while others do not, which leads to divorce. Why does the divorce’s rate trend to continually increase lately? Even though each broken marriage is unique, we can still find the common causes for marital despair. Causes of Divorce Infidelity is the number one reason why marriage ends up in divorce. Most men are more likely to engage in extramarital sex if they are unsatisfied sexually, leading to internet porn and chat rooms. And as for Women, we are most likely to engage in extramarital sex if they are unsatisfied emotionally. Second cause of divorce is Spousal abuse, either the subject of physical and emotional abuse in marriage is difficult to address because spouses cannot usually agree as to what it is. Physical abuse is easier to define than emotional abuse because...
Words: 741 - Pages: 3
...March 5, 2011 Affects of Divorce on Children Introduction Divorce can have a devastating impact on a family. Children are particularly vulnerable when their parents are divorced. For many years, experts in the field of child psychology and child development have researched the impact of divorce on children. They have found that children of divorce can have a wide range of problems including behavioral, emotional and adjustment difficulties. For the purposes of this discussion, I will explore the impact of divorce on children. According to current data, nearly 51% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce (Love and Murdock , 2008). In addition, the divorce rate began to increase in the 1960’s. Many factors may have contributed to this increase including women feeling a sense of greater independence and ability to support themselves (Love and Murdock, 2008). Along with these factors is the increase in the number of stepfamilies because many who remarry already have children (Love and Murdock, 2008). The introduction of the stepfamily into a divorced situation can lead to even greater problems for children of divorce (Love and Murdock, 2008). Another researcher reports that there are differing opinions concerning the impact of divorce on children. Jeynes (2005) reports some experts believe that most children heal from divorce 2 to 3 years after the divorce has occurred. While others have concluded that the impact of divorce can be seen well into adulthood...
Words: 1370 - Pages: 6
...The Effects of Divorce on Children ENG215 Research and Writing The Effects of Divorce on Children These days most people accept divorce as a way of life, completely unaware of the damage they are doing to their children. Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of all children born to married parents, fifty percent of those will experience the divorce of their parents before they graduate from high school. Compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have more psychological problems and actually the death of a parent is less devastating to a child than the divorce. When children are involved in a divorce, it often leads to a wide variety of problems down the road and not just for the couple divorcing. It is unbelievable how many people get a divorce without looking into what kind of effect it might have on their children. Unfortunately, the traumatic effects of divorce on children stay with them throughout their childhood and continue on into their adult lives. And in most cases, couples find themselves involving their children in divorce which only makes things worse. When you first break the news to your child that you are getting a divorce, their initial reaction might vary from extreme anger, to sadness, to immediately thinking that the breakup is their fault. One of the most damaging effects of divorce on children is the different outlets they turn to in an effort to deal with...
Words: 1231 - Pages: 5
...over-respond or underrespond to sensory stimuli. For example, they may be hypersensitive to sounds, smells, touch or light, or they may suffer from anesthesia and analgesia, in which they are unaware of pain, touch, or internal physical sensations. As a result they may injure themselves without feeling pain, suffer from physical problems without being aware of them, or, the converse – they may complain of chronic pain in various body areas for which no physical cause can be found. Effects of Complex Trauma. (2014). Retrieved September 7, 2014. Think of what it is like for young children to be in traumatic situations. They can feel totally helpless and passive. They can cry for help or desperately wish for someone to intervene. They can feel deeply threatened by separation from parents or caretakers. Young children rely on a "protective shield" provided by adults and older siblings to judge the seriousness of danger and to ensure their safety and welfare. They often don't recognize a traumatic danger until it happens, for example, in a near drowning, attack by a dog, or accidental scalding. They can be the target of physical and sexual abuse by the very people they rely on for their own protection and safety. Young children can witness violence within the family or be left helpless after a parent or caretaker is injured, as might occur in a serious automobile accident. They have the most difficulty with their intense physical and emotional reactions. They become really upset...
Words: 2192 - Pages: 9
...The devastating fact that one out of every two marriages end in divorce has a huge effect on the children growing up in our today’s culture. Luckily, many of the parents seeking a divorce think about how that will affect their children’s lives as well. (Children and Divorce, 2013) Divorce is a complex process which does not end in a courthouse, but a lifelong struggle. Before a child reaches 18, 2 out of 5 children will have to experience the divorce of their family, with about 1,250,000 divorces per year in America. (Matthews) Children of divorced families are affected in a number of ways. Their future relationships between the child and parents suffers, the child’s development will be hindered physically, socially, emotionally, educationally, morally and spiritually, there will be short and long term effects, show signs and symptoms of...
Words: 1647 - Pages: 7
...of parents and children, with or without relatives , united by bonds of love and affection and who share common social activities. It is defined as a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood or adoption, constituting a single household, interacting and communicating with each other in their perspective social roles of Husband and wife, mother and father , son and daughter , brother and sister , and creating and maintaining a common culture. (Burgess and Locke , 1963) When everything seems to be wrong, the family should be the one who makes it right. Nevertheless, families should be intact. Bonds are strongly held together and there is no sign of separation. Unfortunately, there are instances that a family becomes incomplete or Broken. Broken Family is a family where the parents ( mother and father) of a child or children have split up and no longer share a single family relationship or live. Separately due to divorce, remarriage, death or unavoidable circumstances. It is visible that in a parent separation, the children are the ones who are affected the most. Watching parents take a home from a traditional family lifestyle to a “broken” home by getting separated is very devastating for a child's mental well-being. The objectives of this research will be to identify the effects of having broken family on the social and mental development of the children , To make a comparative research about the difference of the social and mental life of children coming from broken...
Words: 1568 - Pages: 7
...that your thesis is a bit more clear, instead of being inquisitive. E.g.: Shockingly, the U.S. has the biggest incarceration (or imprisonment) rate than other nations. The perhaps biggest thing that causes such a catastrophe is the fact that so many children in the U.S. don’t grow up with two moral, strong-based parents. :P} The truth is is that most kids don’t have this privilege. In fact for a lot of kids the importance of the family is not taken seriously and is taken for granted by those who do experience it. Without a strong based family, a child loses key lessons from his or her parents: and when a child grows up with out knowing right from wrong the end result can be devastating. A child that grows up in a dysfunctional{what is dysfunctional to you may not be to others…may want to be a little more specific} family is at greater risk to do drugs, drop out of school, be sexually active, be abused, and live in poverty.((< definitely cite this. Although it may seem like common sense, it would be much more credible with a source for the info added in.)) [Divorce seems almost normal in America. The moment the marriage gets hard divorce is the decision immediately made]. {Reflects paragraph well: but be more assertive: “Divorce is an average agenda in everyday American life.”} What happened to “till death do us part”, not “till hard...
Words: 1374 - Pages: 6
...Understanding the True Meaning of Well-being Divorce forces children to face social and emotional constraints which may promote a downfall in a child’s overall well-being. The term well-being can vary depending upon the context and situation that the phrase is being presented. When discussing children whose parents are going through a divorce, well-being refers to his or her overall physical health and emotional stability. Researchers would argue that well-being is much more than that and could be defined more biologically, psychologically and/or economically. I believe well-being refers to a person’s quality of life. Success and happiness signify a high quality of life while disappointments signify a lower quality of life. A joyful person has a positive well-being compared to a distressed person. Well being has the potential to affect many areas in a person’s life. Some examples are: health, income, career opportunities, emotional stability and relationships. The importance level of theses factors varies amongst individuals but they are all very significant. A study conducted by the Royal Society, which is composed of the world's most eminent scientists, looks at the term on a biological level. The core of well-being contributes to the effective functioning of multiple biological systems, which may help keep the organism from succumbing to disease or when illness or adversity occurs, may help promote rapid recovery (Love, Ryff, & Singer, 1383). Well-being...
Words: 1330 - Pages: 6
...Children of Divorce MBrooks University Abstract Within the past 30 years it is safe to say that divorce is an epidemic that has affected about fifty percent of families in the United States. When discussing the topic of divorce, one must think about the many issues they must face in the ‘long term’, and in the present that affects children. Many problems have added to the family’s interaction before the divorce, as well as, ongoing conflict afterward. The stages of divorce affect children in different ways depending on their coping skills in their stage of development. Furthermore, the consequences of divorce may impact the child’s overall sense of security in meeting their most basic needs. Studies have also shown that children’s responses to divorce can attribute to behavioral problems. Children mimic what they see, so reassuring your children is a vital part of getting them through this difficult time. Further discussions will pose positive attributes due to a great support system and having well-adjusted children after divorce. Children of Divorce Vows are exchanged in the presence of our Father, and the verse that changes everything from that moment of promise on is—“a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? Matthew 19:5. ’And, you may kiss the bride…” Blissful couples leave the church with the intention of living happily ever after, not really thinking the statistics are against them from...
Words: 1418 - Pages: 6