The Effects of a Broken Family on the Children

2090 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Abstract of the psychological effects of divorce on children

A broken family refers to a family that has gone through a separation, abandonment or divorce leaving the children with only one parent instead of the much needed two. In the beginning of a divorce parents tend to argue non-stop and just have a sense of despair around the household. Children around that type of atmosphere can get confused and blame themselves for such arguments and the overall unhappiness. When dealing with divorce the effects on the children vary depending on their age, time of separation and personality and family relationship (Anderson "The Effect of a Broken Family on Development"). For example infants and young children may experience some negative development effects, older children and teenagers tend to suffer more and have a more lasting effect on their social, emotional, and educational day to day life (Anderson "The Effect of a Broken Family on Development"). By nature divorce not only changes the structure of a family but also its dynamics stated by the previous source. Even in some cases when the divorce goes smoothly without putting the children through too much drama, just by taking a family that once was happy as is and making two separate households will permanently alter family interactions and the roles of both the parents and children. In most broken homes older children are forced to grow up faster and take on more responsibility around the house.
After a divorce children from pre-school through late adolescence tend to experience the most of their problems in emotional development (Anderson "The Effect of a Broken Family on Development"). Having a parent leave the house can cause younger children to become confused as to why they left and aren’t coming back. These young children are more afra...

... middle of paper ...

...erica?”). Without a father or at least a father figure children are growing up the wrong way and by the time people come to help being fatherless has already left its effect. This is why dads need to be responsible from the beginning because a child needs both parents to develop successfully. By starting from the beginning and getting married first and staying together permantly we can stop the disastrous effects of the broken family. Two people shouldn’t come together in hopes to start a family unless they are both already to fully commit to each other and the babies they wish to have. By stopping this trend we would be making a better future for America with each child brought up right with both parents. Not only do we need dads to stay in the lives of their kids, dads need to be a positive influence and with moms help mold the children into who they need to be.

Show More
Related

  • Annotated Bibliography: Annotated Bibliography

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this article, the editors discussed the social trends and how they can change in nature of father involvement. They tested how children today will make their expectations taking upon a role of mother and father. Increase in father absence is associated with poor school achievement, reduced involvement in labor force, early childbearing, and high risk-taking behaviors. In addition, boys without fathers will experience problems with their sexual orientation and gender identity, school performance, psychosocial adjustment, and self-control. The editors differentiated the girls by how affected they were without fathers.

    Read More

  • Erickson Stage Theory and the Impact of Divorce on Children

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...d by their parent's divorce but also have negative side effects later on in adulthood (issue 8 pg 146). Developmental psychologist Hetherington agrees that divorce can be harmful to a child's development but that they ultimately overcome it. Eventually they will overcome it, but this is most likely to happen past stage 6, in middle adult hood after one has decided whether or not they want to spend their life with someone. Erickson's theory of personality development can help one realize the stages which are mostly affected by a parent's divorce. The stages affected are stages 3, initiative versus guilt, stage 4 industry versus inferiority, stage 5, identity versus confusion, and finally intimacy versus isolation. The symptoms of having a broken home might not always be very noticeable until a person is peeled little by little and ready to fix their heavy past.

    Read More

  • Seifert's Article On Divorce And Its Effects On Children

    287 Words  | 1 Pages

    The article “Divorce and Its Effects on Children” by Kelvin L. Seifert and Robert J. Hoffnung states about the effects of the divorce under the children. The authors say “most parents who divorce must make major adjustments in their lives, and these adjustments often affect their children deeply.”(Kelvin, Robert, 1). Most of the adjustments are different by the children gender and sometimes the relationship between parents and their children deteriorate during and immediately after a divorce.

    Read More

  • Divorce Effects On Children Essay

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Parental divorce has led a major impact on children’s life. The life that follows after divorce is significantly changed from how life was before. It is observed that divorce have unlike affect on young child and adolescent. Young child are closely c...

    Read More

  • The Shocking Truths of Divorce

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    An absence of a parent or a parent’s separation, divorce, when a child is developing, may affect the child’s future relationships. “Evidence shows that, on average, children who have experienced parental divorce score somewhat lower than children in first-marriage families on measures of social development, emotional well-being, self-concept, academic performance, educational attainment, and physical health” (Demo, Supple)

    Read More

  • The Effects of Divorce on Children

    2257 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hetherington, E. Mavis, and Margaret Stanley-Hagan. "The Adjustment of Children with Divorced Parents: A Risk and Resiliency Perspective." Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines 40, no. 1 (January 1999): 129. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 8, 2011).

    Read More

  • Divorce and Its Effect On Children

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kelly, J. B., & Emery, R. E. (2003). Children's adjustment following divorce: Risk and resilience perspectives. Family Relations, 52(4), 352-362.

    Read More

  • Divorce Rhtorical Analysis

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most people, when thinking about divorce, worry about the impact that it has on the children that are involved. Even though children are most likely better off if totally incompatible parents separate instead of staying together, divorce is about loss and change, and it is still hard for children. Everyone knows that divorce has its effects on children. There are three different sources that try to explain these effects. Graham Blaine Jr. states that divorce is a threat to all children, whereas Rhona Mahony states that divorce is not always the cause of behavioral or academic problems in children coming from divorced families. Yvette Walczak and Sheila Burns state that the extent of the damage can be determined by the parents and their methods of explanation to the children.

    Read More

  • Effects of Divorce on a Child

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a couple with a child chooses to get a divorce this can have major impact on a child at any age. There are many causes of stress throughout the divorce process that can negatively affect children. First, negative reactions and behaviors are dependent upon the situation before the divorce. Some studies show that how much parents fight, how it is done, how it is resolved, and what precautions are taken to protect the children from it's effects are the most important predictors of child adjustment (Kelly, 2000). Meaning that if children are exposed to fights about custody, money, or the failing marriage they could feel the repercussions of their parents conflict. Next, divorce can cause children to have heightened fear...

    Read More

  • Child Development Essay

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the beginning of time, fathers have had a profound effect on their child’s development. Over the years, the norm for traditional family dynamics of having a father figure in the household has changed drastically, and so did the roles of the parents. It is not as common as it used to be to have a father or father figure in the home. In this day and age, women are more likely to raise children on their own and gain independence without the male assistance due to various reasons. The most significant learning experience and development of a person’s life takes place in their earlier years when they were children. There are many advantages when there is a mother and father combined in a

    Read More

  • Children of Divorced Parents

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is unfortunate that marriages sometimes end and there are children caught in the middle of the marriage but it may be worst for the parents to stay together simply for the children’s sake. However when parents do divorce the children are the most effected by the divorce. Often enough the divorce causes children to feel displaced and also to have feelings that their world is coming to an end. These children tend to grow into adults with either extreme emotional detachment and self-esteem issues or they will have strong family values and try to prevent the cycle from repeating itself but the majority of these children grow up suffering from the divorce.

    Read More

  • Essay On Effects Of Divorce On Children

    3252 Words  | 7 Pages

    Does divorce have more of an impact on the way American children act today than originally thought? Long ago divorce was a rare occasion and generally people feared it. Nowadays, fifty percent of all marriages end in divorce. With that being said, the amount of children subjected to divorce is increasing. Individuals seem to believe a divorce is subjected to just the husband and wife relationships but research has found this not to be the case. Children today are becoming more distant from their parents and peers; some consider divorce as the reason. In research and studies done, it is proven that divorce does have an impact on American children and their emotions. Paying attention to children’s attitudes and the way they interact with other children is one of many ways to know there could be a problem in their life. Adults typically overrun the reality of a child’s feels, especially if they were subjects of intact families as children and aren’t familiar with the feeling of parental divorce. Most children do not want to upset their parents so instead of talking to them about their thoughts and feelings, they choose to stay quiet and distance themselves from everybody. The currency of divorce in modern society damages not only our children’s emotional development, but also their social attitudes.

    Read More

  • How Children of Single Parent Families are Affected

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Divorce Sometimes Benefits Children

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Divorce isn’t always as bad as people portray it. Commonly realized, divorce isn’t a great thing to happen to a family. But being in a bad relationship can have more negative effects on a child than divorce. In a study conducted of 98 couples, that later divorced, 80% of their children felt that their parents split was a good decision. Of the 20% that felt it wasn’t a good decision, most came from more abusive families. Being together in a bad relationship can actually cause more harm than good. Parents commonly think that by staying together for the kid’s sake will it eliminate negative effects and help their kids thrive. Nevertheless they see their parents unhappiness creating a more tense environment. Provided that the parents are abusive or are more vocal about their opinions then it can actually create a traumatic environment around the child, making them feel unsafe or timid constantly. What the minority of people know is that divorce can actually give kids positive vibes. Divorce can teach kids to focus on the positives and keep moving forward in life. In a Harper Collins book it says (We’re still family: What grown Children have to say about their parents divorce) that “ kids more commonly emerge wiser in spite of- or perhaps because of- their complex histories.” Multiple studies have proven, kids who have experienced divorce emerge mo...

    Read More

  • Effects of Absent Fathers on Adolescents

    1894 Words  | 4 Pages

    The role of the father, a male figure in a child’s life is a very crucial role that has been diminishing over the years. An absent father can be defined in two ways; the father is physically not present, or the father is physically present, but emotionally present. To an adolescent, a father is an idolized figure, someone they look up to (Feud, 1921), thus when such a figure is an absent one, it can and will negatively affect a child’s development. Many of the problems we face in society today, such as crime and delinquency, poor academic achievement, divorce, drug use, early pregnancy and sexual activity can be attributed to fathers being absent during adolescent development (Popenoe, 1996; Whitehead, 1993). The percentage of adolescents growing up fatherless has risen from 17% to 36% in just three decades between 1960 and 1990 (Popenoe, 1996). Dr. Popenoe estimates this number will increase to approximately 50% by the turn of the century (Popenoe, 1996). The US Census Bureau reported out of population of 24 million children, 1 out 3 live in a home without a father (US Census Bureau, 2009).

    Read More

More about The Effects of a Broken Family on the Children

Open Document