The Effects of Unconventional Guardians on the Behavior of Adolescents

856 Words2 Pages

The Effects of Unconventional Guardians on the Behavior of Adolescents
We live in a society in which the unconventional or non-traditional family has become more or less the social norm. More and more households are divided or consist of blended families, single parents, gay and lesbian couples, etc., and it can have a major effect on the behavior of youth of today. A predominant factor in all of this is the incidence of divorce. Two people get married too early and decide to have children, then the marriage doesn’t work out for various reasons, and the children are forced to take on a new lifestyle, which can be extremely shocking and potentially traumatizing to them. This can lead to a variety of different behavior problems in adolescents. For example, in situations in which an adolescent feels like the parent isn’t emotionally available to him or her, the adolescent is much more likely to express aggressive or delinquent behavior because the adolescent feels like he or she has to internalize his or her issues (Van der Graaff, Branje, De Wied, & Meeus, 2012). The more parents are caught up in their personal lives (for example, divorce), the less likely that those parents will be emotionally available to their child. In contrast, many people claim that gay and lesbian couples are unfit to raise children; however studies show that said children are equally advantaged academically, socially, and emotionally as their peers (Amato, 2012). Both sides of the spectrum are important to address because many adults don’t recognize the long-term effects of a marriage. Some people talk down about gay marriage being detrimental to the health of children, and yet a leading factor in adolescent delinquents rests in divorce, which predominantly ...

... middle of paper ...

...parent, and so power often can't be shared equally between both adults because the children don't respect the authority of the other spouse. Before a step-parent is even found, it's very common for one of the two parents to digress to almost a teenage state of egocentrism in finding another partner for his or herself (Amato & Cheadle, 2008). Their focus diverts from raising the children and drives a wedge in between them and their child – especially when the child is in a crucial state of development, between the ages of three and six. This wedge is furthered in remarriage and is cause for antisocial behavior, anxiety, substance abuse and many latent psychological issues to immerse later on (Amato & Cheadle, 2008). Specific phobias, major depression, and alcohol abuse are among the top three psychological disorders related to divorced families (Breslau et al, 2011).

Open Document