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What are the effects of divorce on childrens mental health
What are the effects of divorce on childrens mental health
The Negative Impact of Divorce
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In the United States, it is estimated all marriages end in divorce (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). Divorces can be a drawn out and long process that not only does the couples go through, but the whole family. During a divorce, the family will transition through different emotions, behaviors, and attitudes (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). There are three stages the family will transpire through, which are decision-making, restructuring, and recovery. It takes time and counseling to get a family successfully through divorce. Divorce on the family should be looked at through all aspects such as emotional, legal, economic, co parental, and psychic divorce (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015).
How Divorce Affects A Family Divorce is a transition for families and it will take some time adjusting to the divorce life or having divorced parents. Inevitably, the whole family is affected by a divorce. One way the family is affected by divorce is when children do not understand the concept of divorce and they develop emotional and behavior problems (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). Children may not know how to handle the transition of divorce and will act out because they feel instability and confusion. Another way the family can be affected by divorce is when each member of the family
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Research has proposed substance abuse as a genetic predisposition in families (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). If a parent is abusing substances, than the children may be more likely to start using and abusing substances in the future. Treatment for substance abuse has been seen very effective when using family and couples counseling (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). One of the main issues when family members seek treatment is the possibility of relapse (Wetchler & Hecker, 2015). From personal experience when someone you care about relapses, it can affect the relationship
Many people who have suffered through the emotional trauma of divorce strongly believe that losing a spouse as a result of an unwanted divorce has had a greater impact on their emotional health and well being than losing a spouse in death. A significant number of therapists and other psychiatric professionals agree, for they understand that divorce is far more than just a legal process. (Rich and Schwartz)
Divorce has grown conventional in today's society. First marriages stand a 50% chance of breaking up and second marriages stand a 67% chance of doing the same thing (issue 8 pg 146). It seems as if instead of working out problems and believing in love, people are giving up and throwing away all they worked on together for so long, thinking that their next marriage will be much different. By doing this they are hurting not only themselves but also their children and could cause them to have negative side effects later on into their adult lives according to clinical psychologist Judith S. Wallerstein. Erikson's theory of personality development can help calculate which and how stages are affected when parents get divorce. Stages 3, 4, 5 and 6 seem to be the most affected by the divorce because the main conflicts the child is confronting at the time are necessary to go through them calmly for a healthy development.
The argument over how divorce affects children is one that has been going on for a very long time. Some people believe when parents get a divorce the children are not affected at all, while others believe when parents get a divorce the children are affected by the impact of divorce more than anyone in the family. In some cases, married couples can be in such a terrible marriage that divorce can in no way be avoided, and these divorces are usually the ones that children benefit from and are affected in a positive way. Many times though, a couple will choose to get a divorce because their marriage is not exactly the way it used to be, and they want that aspect of life back; these are the divorces that negatively affect children. Even though in some cases divorce does not affect children negatively, many times when parents obtain a divorce, the children are negatively harmed in many different ways that will forever change their lives.
Divorce is and has become a major issue in our society, the reason for that has been attributed to the drastic increase in divorce rates over the years. Divorce often disrupts the flow of the family structure, increases discord, and affects how family issues are handled. Families dealing with divorce are often times in a state of complete confusion and disorder, and filled with frustration, anger, and pain. Power struggles between spouses, which often times spread to the children if there any increase as the addiction worsens. There is a growing concernment among those in different fields like Social Work, Academia, and Mental Health in the United States, other countries, who have taken an interest in how divorce is readjusting
From this example, we can say that often couples are frustrated with their immediate disappointments and want to take divorce. However, in their immediacy, they can’t see or remember a long term effect of their decision. In this research paper, I wanted to raise three questions about family divorce and answer them in order they are raised.
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.
Every single person in an addict’s immediate family is affected in some way by the individual’s substance abuse. In recent years, our society has moved further away from the traditional nuclear family. There are single-parent homes and blended family homes. Each of these family structures and more will affect the addict’s overall impact on the family. If young children are a part of the family, their
Divorce is a very common word in today's society. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage or a complete or radical severance of closely connected things"(Pickett, 2000). This dissolution of marriage has increased very rapidly in the past fifty years. In 1950 the ratio of divorce to marriage was one in every four; in 1977 that statistic became one in two. Currently one in every two first marriages results in divorce. In second marriages that figure is considerably higher, with a 67% average (National Vital Statistics Report, 2001). One critical aspect of divorce is often not taken into consideration: How it affects children. Every year 1.1 million children are affected by divorce (Benjamin, 2000). Children from divorce or separation often exhibit behavioral and long-term adjustment problems (Kelly, 2000). Throughout this paper I will discuss divorces effects on children at different age levels, how they react, and what can be done to help them.
The divorce of their parents may not be the most damaging thing that can happen in a child’s life, but it will affect them for the rest of their life. The child will experience emotional shake ups, confusion of what is occurring, and hurt feelings that their parents decided not to remain married anymore. With help from their peers, the child can learn to cope and while it may not be easy, it is attainable to return the child’s life as close to normal as it can get. The negative effects of divorce will always outweigh the positive effects of their parents remaining in the struggling marriage.
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.
Some effects of divorce on children are negative emotions like bitterness, stress, fear, anxiety, feeling abandoned, and loss of self-esteem. When a family goes through a divorce, the children will be afraid of being abandoned, rejected, and can think they are the reason for all the arguing. This can make them angry at their selves and cause some physical problems. Attorneys at Law Krueger and Hernandez (2011) state that some physical effects of divorce are “weight gain or loss, difficulty concentrating, increase in tension, and lack of sleep” (para. 1). The effects of divorce on children differ in age groups. When the younger preschool kids become angry and almost impossible to please, the older middle school and high school children are fantasizing about their parents getting back together or even the use of drugs and alcohol to hide their pain. To help control the effects of divorce on children, parents need to realize that they are not the only ones going through it and feeling the pain. The parents need to include the children in their decision and what is good for the whole
Dealing with conflicts between parents during divorce causes children to lose their sense of security. Children feel secure when they are with both of their parents. If this feeling of security is diminished, children will have a slight possibility of developing psychological disorders. Children with divorced parents tend to be alone or have fewer friends because of the separation of their parents. Divorce and separation are emotional processes in which the child is affected just as much as are the parents. After a divorce, the child whose parents are disconnected feels incomplete, empty, anxious, depressed and has low self-esteem. After the child realizes that their parents will never be together again, he or she will always feel incomplete to an extent. Children want to be with their parents at family dinners, dance concerts, football games, and other social activities and gatherings. This is far more unlikely to happen in families with divorced parents. Anxiety, depression and other negative feelings, which appear in children during the time of divorce, will affect children and, may, in extreme cases, even drive them to the point where they start to think of
After reading about the family transition and change, it hit me that these families that are going through a divorce need to put their children first, and what it is going to be like when they have to adjust to a new lifestyle where their parents are not together anymore. “The central assumption is that divorce is a crisis of family transition which causes structural changes in family systems” (Ahrons, pg. 533). Transitioning is going to be a hard time for these children because their whole life is changing, and it puts a strain on the family because of all the stress. It is so sad that “Our culture presently provides largely negative role models for the divorcing family” (pg. 534). However, the most important thing to do is to keep a positive
Since family structures are taking on various forms, families have become more complex and evolving from the traditional nuclear family to single parent families, stepfamilies, foster families, and multigenerational families. When a family member abuses substances, the effects on the family may differ depending on the structure. Extended family members may experience feelings of abandonment, anxiety, fear, anger, concern, embarrassment, or guilt; they may wish to ignore or cut ties with the person abusing substances. Effects on families may continue for generations. Neighbors, friends, and coworkers also experience the effects of substance abuse since the person who abuses substances often is unreliable.
Children react differently yet similarly in divorce. Every child caught up in the distress of divorce has a hard time coping with it and imagining their life without a parent. Their anxiety levels peak as they feel they are going to be abandoned. They experience feelings of loneliness due to the loss of the other parent. Different children go through these emotions at different levels and at different times depending on the child’s age. How bad or how well children handle the divorce depends on how the situation is handled. It can throw the child's entire life into a whirlwind.