Consequences Of Parental Divorce For Child Development

Divorce is one of many controversial subjects in family and human development research. What inspired me to critically analyze the article “Does Divorce Create Long-Term Negative Effects for Children?” is the challenge it would be for me to put my bias aside considering I am from a divorced home. After reading the article and analyzing it over and over, I can’t help but think that the writer answering “YES” to this controversial question overlooked many variables and over generalized his findings and research. With Zinsmeister overgeneralizing his research, not considering enough alternate explanations for long-term negative effects divorce, and his lack of relevant information needed to assess reliability and validity are why I find this article to be insightful but not accurate and hope to show why.

Janet Shansky of Iona college wrote this intellectual article about some major theories within divorced families. These theories have the potential to explain the connection between parental divorce and negative outcomes for the children. These include, but are not limited to, the "marital disruption" theory, the "reduced resources" theory, and the "parental conflict" theory. Shansky takes a deep look at all of the research that went into these theories and how they explain the adverse effects of divorce on children. Another aspect of her article is how these significant theories can be put to use in intervening future students and children from having such a hard time with this major change in their life.

Divorce can be a traumatic experience for children to go through when separations occurs. The effects on children are by far the most significant factors, sometimes resulting in behavioral disorders and developmental issues, as a result of alternating between households, economic instability, and behavioral related issues. However, children of divorced parents could be helped when parents place their children first, develop communication and problem solving skills and use family programs to help their children deal with life altering changes.

Divorce has many victims; they do not fall under a specific category and do not target a specific gender, age, race, or ethnicity. The effect of divorce on children differs from the effect on the spouses. The reasons for divorce are endless; they have many side effects on the spouses but most importantly affect the children. Divorce is one of the main reasons for disruption in our communities. Regardless of the reason, divorce always harms the children’s decisions, personalities, and futures.

A major consequence of parental divorce on children is the negative effects on their psychosocial well-being. In his study, researcher Daniel Potter (2010) studied how divorce affects children’s psychosocial well-being and their academic achievement. Taking data from the “Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten cohort” (ECLS-K), his study spanned from the spring of 1999 to the spring of 2004 (Potter, 2010, p. 935). Potter looked specifically at academic levels of Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 5 (Potter, 2010). Out of a total sample of 10,061 children, 870 children had parents who were divorced. Potter measured their psychosocial well-being based on reports that were taken from their

In modern day society, many people are finding it is becoming more and more acceptable to get a divorce. Even the word family itself has changed so drastically, it’s no wonder divorce is so high. What many people don’t realize is that divorce can possibly have a serious effect on children and their behaviors. Many studies have been conducted and have shown a variety of long term, as well as short term effects that children have developed after they’ve experienced going through divorce, one effect divorce could have on children is the risk of the child developing behavioral issues.

After the divorce when parents tend to move, this can be a very critical time for the child. Depending on the age at the time they can either see effects from this immediately or later in the child’s development. When parents move more than an hour away from one another is when it tends to affect the children the most. Students from families where one parent has moved typically received less financial support and they worried more about this support and felt more aggression in their interpersonal relations. They also suffered more distress related to the parent’s divorce and perceived their parents

Divorce negatively affects teens academic success. “It diminishes learning capacities and high school and college attainment” (Fagan, 1999). In general most children live with their mother after their parents go through a divorce. “The absence of the father lowers cognitive test scores for young children in general, but especially for girls’ math scores.”, “By age thirteen there is an average difference of half year in reading abilities between children of divorced parents and those from intact families.” (Fagan, 1999). Divorce is at an all time high in the United States. Divorced parents is affecting children of all ages and it is even beginning to affect those in adulthood. “Molepo (2012) explains that ‘the findings suggest that teachers perceive younger children from divorced parents were more likely to have emotional and behavioural challenges than those from intact families’” Divorce affects all ages of their offspring, in this study, high school teenagers were the only ones that were

The dissolution of a marriage, or ‘divorce’ as it is known, was once an infrequent occurrence and often considered the failure of a wife to maintain a happy marriage (Lewis, 2013). Following a change in legislation in the 1960s that allowed partners to end their marriage without having to provide justification, in conjunction with the sexual liberation movement, the incidence of divorce more than doubled (Wilcox, 2009). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), the number of marriages ending in divorce has continued to rise, however, despite an increase in social acceptance, the negative impact divorce has on children has remained prevalent (Kelly & Emery, 2004). It is imperative for researchers to assess the repercussions

Nearly fifty-five percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce. At this rate, the chance of divorce is greater than that of living happily ever after. This is true for children impacted by divorce. Parental divorce can create either negative or positive lokhjnng-term effects on children throughout their lifetime, or both. The effects are evident in the child’s emotional, psychological and social behaviors.

Divorce brings a long lasting effect upon children for years in terms of mental and their mental stability. Families have broken down which has caused to divorce many times let alone once which causes children to go through the troublesome path of adjustment. “Many children of divorce have transitory symptoms, which may take the form of excessive worrying, sadness, anger, oppositional behavior, impaired social relationships, and compromised school performance”(Bernet, 2015). Throughout the transitory stage, children face many sociological and psychological such as

So you 're living the american dream , you have a perfect house , a perfect car , two perfect children and then like the majority of americans the trend of divorce hits your family . Divorce is a daunting word ,it causes heartbreaking change and pain to everyone involved . Many would agree its a child nightmare seeing their two parents separate . Who could think that one single event could carry such importance on a child 's life .Children of divorced parents are automatically put into a league of their own and statistics show there will be emotional , social and physical repercussions . The potential disadvantages that divorce can halt on child should not be exaggerated , as divorce can cause ; emotional , social , physical ,educational ,and sexual effects along with future problems with marriage .

In essence parental divorce diminishes the economic and social resources available to children which in turn has negative consequences for the children 's educational attainment.

Children are likely to experience emotional and behavioral problems at some point during the separation of their parents. According to Susan Gadoua (2009), it is not the divorce that negatively impacts the child, rather it’s the parents’ fighting. Yet, Mark Banchick (2013), states otherwise. He even states that there are psychiatric problems associated with divorce and focuses on severe and real separation anxiety because of divorce. According to Paul Amato (2000), the effect that the divorce has on a child varies from having a beneficial effect, to a temporary

The biggest effect of divorce is on children if the couple has children. Children turn out to be the most affected when their parents divorce because, they will not be able to experience parents love and guidance from both parents. Many kids who live with a single parent because of a divorce will always end up indulging in devious behaviors due to lack of parental guidance from both parents. Children are affected in their studying, their normal life, and even their self –esteem when their parents are divorced, and some even end up dropping out of school. Children from divorced parents are psychologically affected, and parents should not only think of their own feelings, but also put their children’s’ interests at