Introduction
Divorce has become a pressing matter in the present day society for tender children and families involved. Over the past few years, families have experienced various dramatic transformations due to the increase in divorce rate. Ideally, divorce is usually the most burdensome phase in the life of a married couple. It is believed that whenever parents are crestfallen, their children are more likely to be unhappy too. During this phase, parents develop new manners of relating to each other and new parenting methods. Numerous researches have found that parental separation usually has varying effects on the children. Notably, most of the times, divorces tend to have negative outcomes on younger children. This paper aims at evaluating the consequences of divorces on children.
Background/History
Extensive research has proved that cases of divorce and parental separation are greatly correlated to the negative results for the development of both tender children and adolescents. Parental separation is highly associated with academic difficulties, low grades, and premature dropouts of children from schools. In addition, parental separation is a major attribute of reduced cognitive development among children and their great disruptive behavior. Subsequently, it is a major determinant of the adverse outcomes of earlier life transitions in children, as they become young adults and later life. Consequently, emotional problems related to divorce tend to become intense as a child approaches adulthood. Notably, divorce leads to alterations of financial status in a family, which could become a great stressor to the children in the affected family. At times divorces lead to poverty in the family, thus causing educational failure, engagement in risky sexual activity, and earlier marriages among the children. As a result, contemplating the magnitude of consequences of divorce on children has led to the discovery of important social implications.
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Evaluative claim
Fundamentally, children who are raised by both parents tend to perform better on a wide range of activities as compared to a child raised in a single-parent family. Once parental separation occurs, children, especially those of a tender age, primarily turn out as the casualties. Virtually, a divorce splinters a child’s basic safety and belief related to their parents’ ability to take care of them (Wright, 2015). In addition, divorce causes children to doubt their parents’ capability to make decisions regarding their well-being. As a result, a child witnessing the loss of love between their mother and father and commitment introduces a massive transformation in a child’s life. The negative effects of divorce on children can be classified into two, that is, short-term and long-term effects.
Casual Argument
Immediately a divorce occurs the entire family is likely to undergo an emotional turmoil. However, the kids have more chances of becoming scared, confused, and frustrated, unlike other members of the family since they struggle to contemplate the thought of not seeing their parents together again. As a result, the immediate aftermath of parental separation on young children is anxiety (Jeynes, 2012). This happens since at this age, children are usually extremely dependent on both of the parents. Subsequently, anxiety caused by a divorce leads to constant stress. Further, a psychiatric research led to the establishment that most of the children whose parents have separated tend to think that they are the reason behind the separation. Therefore, they take it is their responsibility to fix their parent’s marriage. This could lead to immense pressure and stress on a child’s mind, which can have adverse outcomes such as failure to concentrate on their studies and loss of interest in various activities (Jeynes, 2012). Moreover, children may become depressed, thus suffer from mood swings, and tend to be irritated at the slightest provocation. Therefore, such children are at great risk of developing aggressive behavior (Wright, 2015). Consequently, the kids may end up becoming antisocial and experience problems even when interacting with people whom they are familiar. They also develop doubts about relationships and love, due to trust issues, and experience challenges in conflict resolution. Finally, they are prone to drug and substance abuse in an attempt to do away with anxiety and frustration (Wright, 2015).
Counterargument
Nevertheless, although divorces adverse effects and long lasting, it is important to note that this is not only limited to children, rather the effect extends to the entire family. Further, divorces could also have positive outcomes on the children. Notably, at times it would be preferable to have separated parents that experience constant quarrels between parents (Miller, 2017). Most importantly, a few of the children whose parents have separated usually react in a natural and understanding manner. This is mainly observed with children whose parents undergo a divorce when they are at an older age, most especially, past teenage. Further, children who are provided assistance during the transition turn out resilient to the negative effects caused by divorce (Miller, 2017). Such children usually have the capability to view the divorce transition as an adjustment rather than a time of difficulty. In addition, a child who no longer experiences a tense atmosphere tends to be happy. Subsequently, children who have witnessed their parent’s marriage fail and shown patience may learn from the mistake of their parents strive to be better (Miller, 2017).
Conclusion
In overall, it is evident that divorce has turned out to be one of the most pressing issues in modern day. Notably, parental separation is usually the most burdensome phase in the life of a married couple. Virtually, a child witnessing the loss of love between their mother and father and commitment introduces a massive transformation in a child’s life. Divorces lead to an emotional turmoil with children having higher chances of becoming scared, confused, and frustrated. In turn, this leads to immense pressure, stress, and depression on a child, which makes of them highly prone to substance abuse..Such children are at great risk of developing aggressive behavior and becoming antisocial. Consequently, they experience trust issues and doubts in love. However, it is important to note that divorces could also have positive outcomes on the children. Divorces help in eliminating an atmosphere of immense tension hence having a better effect on children. Finally, mistakes that could have led to a divorce are advantageous since some children strive at avoiding such mistakes and becoming better.
References
Wright, J. D. (2015). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences . New York: Elsevier Science.
Jeynes, W. (2012). Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children . Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Miller, L. (2017). Primal Loss: The Now-Adult Children of Divorce Speak . Camden: LCB Publishing.
