The Cause And Effects Of Divorce And Its Effects On Children

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Defined by Websters Dictionary (2003), divorce is the action of legally dissolving a marriage. This is a difficult topic to discuss and it leaves a major impact on all of those involved. According to Amato and Cheadle (2005), when children are involved, the complications surrounding a divorce becomes exacerbated. Separation or divorce has started to become a common action within society and has affected millions of children’s lives. Divorce has both a cause and an effect. While the cause can be multiple things, the effects can be child psychological and self-esteem issues, ruined parent-child relationships and single parenting. The aftermath of a divorce seems impossible to overcome and it becomes much more trouble than its worth.
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Children tend to be effected by their parents’ divorce much more than parents realize. Even though a divorce can turn out to be the best solution, it still elicit physical and mental strain on all family members. Children of divorced parents who do not possess the proper coping skills necessary to transition from a two parent home to a single parent home may experience life threatening events, feelings, or emotions. Examples of these effects may includes: a lack of problem- solving skills,interpersonal issues; for adolescents it can result in very early premarital sex as well as self-esteem issues (Churchill & Fagan, 2012). Single Parents and Today’s Families (n.d) brought out that divorce may result in dating issues, increase chances of cohabitation, higher expectations and likelihood of divorce later in life, and a decreased desire to have children of their own. In addition, the relationships between parents and their children may also be ruined regardless if the marriage ended in divorce or if the parents decided to remain in an unhappy marriage. If parents fight while their children are present, it may result in their children experiencing increased sadness, stress, and make them shy away from their parents. Children may also come to believe that they are the cause of the fighting or …show more content…
The first relationship that a child has is with their parents and they learn how to interact with others by interacting with their parents and watching how their parents relate to other people. Children who grow up watching their parents fight and later divorce, may emulate their parents’ behaviors by fighting with their spouse or by ending their marital disputes in divorce. Families that do not divorce have a higher chance of their children being emotionally secure, viewing relationships positively, being more trusting, and being comfortable around people than children that have experienced divorce. Amato and Cheadle (2005) further stated that children who have experienced divorce, may have less financial assistance due to legal struggles and may harbor many internal problems. Other issues may include: academic problems, economic insecurity, severed relationships with parents and difficulty maintaining healthy personal relationships. These issues may increase when children are raised by a single parent. Over time single-parent homes have become more common than “nuclear families”. Single parent families may tend to experience financial instability and find it more difficult to provide their children’s physical needs. The single parent may have to work a full-time, deal with conflicts with the absent parent, handle

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