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The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents
Negative effect of divorce on adolescents
The Impact of Divorce on Young Children and Adolescents
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Single parent families can be defined as families with one parent who has one or more children under the age of 18. The parent or head of household may be one who is widowed, divorced and not remarried, or never married. Compared to twenty years ago millions of children lived in a household with only one parent. Western society dictates that the mother is the primary source of nurturing and thus rearing children when the family unit is disrupted. The change in the family structure in the last decade has had a negative effect on the children involved in these relationships. Children of single parent homes fare less favorably in behavior, social adjustment, economics, and in academics than children who are reared by two parents. Social and psychological …show more content…
The findings are often quoted in other studies. According to the study, divorce is related to delinquency especially if a child is close to the parent who leaves the home. Boys tend to suffer when the father leaves and girls are more affected by the absence of the mother. The anger that exists in the home before the separation is often shifted to the single-parent home. Lingering resentments between the parents is frequently manifested in the conduct of the child (Siegel, 2009). Children of divorce often establish outside relationships that are not healthy. The pressure of a teenager’s friends will be stronger than parental advice when the parent has been missing or not attentive. Children learn behavior from family and friends. They are naturally attractive to parents and want to model the behavior of the parent(s). Normally, parents’ guide the child’s conduct because they want to see the child succeed. When this does not work out, the child is delinquent--acting in an antisocial manner by breaking the law. If the offensive act of a juvenile delinquent was handled in the courts as an adult doing the same offense, it would be considered a crime. Children just entering school have enough to deal with trying to cope with separation and loss just as they are beginning to leave home to go to school. The separation is difficult when the family is together. Having to cope with this added difficulty is often more stressful than the child can handle. Without intervention problems develop that affect the way the child performs as an adult. Rogers reports that, “Researchers agree that almost all children are at least moderately distressed when divorce occurs and continue to experience confusion, sadness, and anger for a period of months or even years. . . .” (Rogers,
However, Peter had left the household in 2001, but still supported the family financially. In the book Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Approach by Curt R. Bartol discusses the parental and family risk factors of single-parent households. In the early studies it was concluded that delinquents are more likely to come from homes where parents were separated or divorced. In recent studies researchers have looked into the correlation of single-parent households, the quality of the parent-child relationship, economic status, emotional support available, and more. In the study of “conflict-ridden vs. conflict-free” it focused on the process rather than structure of family. Children from a single-parent home that are relatively conflict-free are less likely to be a delinquent than children from conflict-ridden “intact” homes. A stable, secure, and mutually supportive family is exceedingly important
The one on one time that you that a parent spends with their child is very important. Children need a loving home environment and this is a determining value in what a child’s ability to socialize will be. Parental stress and violence can relate to delinquency. Also, chapter 9 talks about School and delinquency. The school is the first social institution beyond the household (Thompson, 2012). I could not imagine being rejected at home then having to attend school and be teased. Pelzer was bullied.
According to Price & Kunz, (2003) family structure is a major factor in explaining delinquency. The research aimed at finding a link between cohabiting and other family types with delinquency (Price & Kunz, 2003). They made an important finding that adolescents from cohabiting families are at greater odds of engaging in non-violent delinquency compared to those from biological-parent families. The findings contradict the findings of other studies that show that that youth from broken families are likely to engage themselves in delinquent activities. For example, in one longitudinal study by Juby and Farrington, (2003) they found out that children especially boys who were from non-intact families portrayed negative behaviors compared to those that were from intact families (Juby & Farrington, 2001). Moreover, Prince & Kunz, (2003) performed a meta-analysis involving divorce and juvenile delinquency. They also made a finding that children from divorced homes have a high rate of delinquency compared to those from intact homes.
“Ninety percent of single-parent families are headed by females. Not surprisingly, single mothers with dependent children have the highest rate of poverty across all demographic groups” (Olson & Banyard, 1993, p. 50-56). “Approximately 60 percent of U.S. children living in mother-only families are impoverished, compared with only 11 percent of two-parent families. The rate of poverty is even higher in African-American single-parent families, in which two out of every three children are poor” (Kirby, n.d., Single-parent Families in Poverty section, para.2).
Studies indicate that positive parenting, including normative development, monitoring, and discipline, clearly affects whether children will become delinquent. Adequate supervision of free-time activities, whereabouts, and peers are critical to assure that children do not drift into antisocial and delinquent patterns of behavior. Surprisingly, little is known about normative and moral development with the family as they relate to delinquency. Single-parent families, and in particular mother-only families, produce more delinquent children than two-parent families. Research indicates that parenting practices account for most, but not all, of the ...
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
Single parenthood culture seems appealing to many married people. However, married individuals are forced to battle with elements like faithfulness and life-long commitment to one individual, which may be boring in some cases. However, single parents, especially single mothers encounter serious challenges related to parenting. Single parenting is a succession of constant mental torture because of ineptness, self-scrutiny, and remorse. At some point, single parents will often encounter serious psychological problems some graduating to stress and eventual depression. Again, there are far-reaching problems that force single mothers to a set of economic or social hardships. Social hardships are evident as address in this research.
...bnormal behavior of delinquency and the link between parenting. It could have a significant impact on how both parents and psychologists approach delinquency and helping to prevent it. Although there were links between all parenting styles and delinquency the article showed that there were greater links between controlling, neglectful, or absentee parents then those who were consistent and present. This shows that in order to prevent delinquency parent need to be present, consistent, and open. If all parents were to attempt this perhaps juvenile delinquency would decrease significantly.
A single parent household is a house with only one parent and one or multiple children. Single parent households are becoming very common in all racial and ethnic groups because it is no longer required for people to be married before they have children. Most households only have one parent because of divorce, never being married, separated, widowed, or because of business. The most common are, separation, divorce and just simply never being married. In these cases it is usually the mother who is the single parent. It is not too often that you see a father taking care of their child by themselves. This is usually because they do not know how, or they simply do not want to take care of their child. Statistics show that family structure has a big impact on certain characteristics of a child such as their attitude and level of respect. Children tend to be less respectful to people because they do not respect the parent who is not around. In many cases a child may become depressed living with only one parent causing them to get out of control and do things that they shouldn’t. Sometimes the child may feel like they are incomplete leaving them to do crazy things to find what they feel like they are missing. often times the child feels that they are the reason their parents are not together.
It has been said, children from two-parent families are better off. The setting is also a factor to take into consideration. The increase in single- parent homes has had an extensive and negative effect on children’s development. 50% of marriages end in divorce. We have young people with young minds having children, they can hardly take care of themselves at the age of 21, yet they have decided to bring four children into this world to be raised by one parent. In some communities, majority of the children are being raised by a single parent. Statistics have shown that children raised in a healthy single parent home have more problems emotionally, psychologically, in school, and with the law than those raised in healthy two-parent homes. No matter how good a single parent is, that a single parent can NEVER do for the child how two present, committed, parent partners share and work together; communicate together and solve problems together as equals.
A finding that emerges very strongly and consistently is that delinquents have very poor relationships with their parents” (Gove 303-304). The teens who commit crimes often lack a parental figure in their lives. These teens are not strictly overseen by their parents, and their parents rarely know what they are up to or what they are doing (Gove 303). “Poor parent-child relationships, lack of parental control, and erratic behavior of parents could be a product of juvenile misbehavior and the juvenile’s hostility towards his or her parents” (Gove 304). Teens that do not have a close relationship with their parents often resort to delinquency as a form of resentment. “The family as an institution plays a critical role in the socialization of children; as a consequence, parents presumably play a critical role in whether their children misbehave” (Gove 315). Parents play the biggest role in a child’s life because the parents have been with the child since birth. Parents shape, mold, and provide the foundation that a teen needs to make hard decisions and to live by a good m...
Another commonality of children dealing with divorce is that of rebellion. One might lose respect for either one or both of their parents, acquire a hatred or disliking towards them or, act out to get attention, having not had any, due to the significance of the divorce. Everything that the child used to do, may come to a stop, and the opposite to a start. Not only do the parents face the rebellion of their children, often times friends, teachers, the law, or coaches end up included as well. Rebelling kids often get themselves into trouble. Drug habits become increasingly probable along with criminal behavior and sometimes sexual participation. “Teenag...
One of the hardest issues to survive in, as a single parent, is an overwhelming emotion that you should complete the role of both mother and father. This feeling evolves and will be more intense if the other single parent is not portraying a role that is active with the children.
Even though the Census Bureau shown that single parent families are increase every year I did not want to be a static of not providing for my family but just another public assist person.
Single Parent Struggle For many years, children growing up in a single parent family have been viewed as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father.