...Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of these, close to half will also see the breakup of a parent’s second marriage, and forty percent of children growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers. You may not believe this but for some kids divorce has more of an impact on children than death. Parents are going through divorces when children are too young to even understand what is going on, what will these kids be thinking when they're sixteen, and they do not have a dad. Children get affected by so many things at a young age, but what people don’t understand, is that children are smarter than you think. Diane McSweeney, a marriage, family, and child counselor for the San Diego Unified...
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... 1 The Devastating Results of Divorce on Children The Devastating Results 2 Abstract The sanctity of marriage, created by God, was intended for one man and one woman for life. At the Fall of man sin entered the world, and our fleshly desires began governing our actions and decisions. This is evident as we have seen our divorce rates reach nearly 50 percent. The no fault divorce has enabled us to make divorce such an easy “decision of convenience” for struggling marriages, and as a result we have become desensitized to its devastating ramifications. Though it is the adults who determine to dissolve the commitment, it is the children who suffer the greatest consequences. Divorce sets in motion a series of negative events and transitions that are related to the child’s psychological distress which is possibly more potent than the physical separation of parents. This will essentially affect the child in every aspect of his/her life - emotional, behavioral, educational, economical, and relational. Such ramifications are immediate as well as long term. To hinder the all too familiar “decisions of convenience” I emphatically believe the courts should return to its more restrictive divorce guidelines; and our nation needs to return to “One Nation Under God”. The Devastating Results 3 Researching articles, journals, and other sources for my paper “The Devastating Results of Divorce on Children” has been an eye-opening experience. It...
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...Letter to the Editor on Children of Divorce In the article of “Is Divorce Bad for Children?” by Hal Arkowitz and Scott O. Lillenfeldm, talks about how children are affected, when their parents are going to split up. I had felt so many things, when my parents split up, luckily I was old enough to understand, but yet I felt all kinds of pain and emotion’s going through my head. I know how it feels, when I see children go through so much mixed emotions. Growing up with my nephew’s who lived with me for 20 years went through their parents divorcing. From what I know, divorce is a bad separation, because it can cause children to have bad grades, they can be affected emotionally, and mentally. Everyday the divorce rate is growing rapidly. Which means that half of American families are likely to split up, and more than half of the kids from these families are likely to be depressed and poor academic in school. First, American families are likely to split up, and more than half of the kids from these families are likely to be depressed, and poor academic in school, has become a major issue in today’s society. Today, many people see divorce as a bad or good thing. I personally think it is bad for every child to go through this. Although couples that are divorce, benefits them because they are no longer suffering from each other and their children can stop seeing them argue. And “a separation may be in the best interest for the child in the long run, but tangible change is difficult...
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...wrote. He is claiming that he cannot fail to accept the fact that divorce has left him with certain scars. With those types of scars it cannot be done away so easily. In the story he says that he has lived a good life by sharing time to time between his two parents but him thinking about it, he feels that something is a miss by this. It may not be something evident as many others in cases experience by others; this is, is own point of view we still have to remember. If I have to say where he would be stating his claim at, I guess it would be the third paragraph of his story. From my experience from a divorce family it’s hard to say for me because I’ve been somewhat like a loner type and keeping to myself about many things and not telling people this and that but again not many ask about it in the first place and it is bad because that child can hear the fight between the two all the time and it can mess up the kid as to how he or she grows up but that’s just my somewhat point of view. I guess that the evidence Putnam is trying to base it on with some solid ground, is the vague memory of his younger years with the fight between his two parents which many kids should not see or hear. He then states that being upstairs in the hallway in the state Philadelphia at home of course, he starts to remember seeing shadows. Those types of shadows start to move back and forth and with the voices rising up and up; thus it affected his memory in the process. He recalls that he can’t forget that...
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...Divorce has become the norm in American society, but what has not become the norm are the effects that it has on children. Divorce impacts all individuals connected to the relationship but children are effected the most. Because of their innocence and immaturity they are not able to cope with the stressful events and aftermath of divorce like adults are able to. No one knows exactly how a child will react to divorce but more than not their behavior can be characterized as explosive and sporadic. The purpose of this research paper is to provide credible information on the effects that divorce has on children and the impact that it makes on their overall outlook on life before and after the divorce occurred. It will also highlight the stress that comes along with the relationship between parent and child as well as some insight on common practices used to help the children cope with the overall impact of divorce. Last but not least I will be adding some insight from my own personal experience about the effects of divorce. The demise or end of marriage has various and lasting effects on everyone connected to the couple going through that situation. Along with that comes a huge amount of stress, ill willed feelings, confusion, emptiness, and a plethora of other things that I would need three more pages to list. Children are the most vulnerable to the effects of these things. With their simple mind set and understanding of things, the concept of daddy and mommy not living...
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...this topic and article Being a child of young parents had enabled me to view my elders in a different light. Social Media has left what I perceive the middle aged, 65 to 75 years of age, behind the times. People are living longer and the perception of “old” is outdated. Social interests need to be met for all ages 80, 90 and yes 100 years old. * Key points of the article One of the key points of the article was the discussion of the expectations of change in social interest late in adulthood and how these changes are and will continue to augment the fabric of later social development. Another key point made was that social interests and needs are changing with the largest demographic, whose center and purpose is degrading with the release of day-to-day parenting duties, spouse or intimate partner loss, and the decline in health and career and employment demands. These fore mentioned factors have been driving your early adult life for many years and to have a sudden decline with no replacement or substitution, will drive the desire for innovative social interests and inspirations. Lastly, later in life, with many burdensome conditions lifted, there is a lot of time for self-reflection and expression of interest in real or synthetic communities. The article made valid points that purposeful and creative aging can be therapeutic and help to guide the aging demographic to a holistic life with a socially developed foundation. * If you had to write a research paper...
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...In life, things happen. Divorce just happens to be one of those things. In every marriage there are problems. No marriage is perfect. If the spouses choose not to share how they are feeling then chances of reaching a divorce at some point is very likely. I think that people do not take marriage vows serious. It seems that divorce is much easier than to work things out. “In the United States, researchers estimate that 40%–50% of all first marriages, and 60% of second marriages, will end in divorce. The most common reasons people give for their divorce are lack of commitment, too much arguing, infidelity, marrying too young, unrealistic expectations, lack of equality in the relationship, lack of preparation for marriage, and abuse,” according...
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...Family My life changed at the age of 9. An event occurred that I already saw coming. Screaming and arguing were going the extreme. I could not take it anymore, and then all of a sudden it stopped. My parents sat me down and told me what was going on. They explained to me that they were going to get a divorce. At first I was mad but I knew why it was happening. That’s when I thought my life was going to change forever. Things were going to be different; two parents weren’t going to be in one household anymore. I couldn’t call on daddy or mommy to come when they were no where around. I would have to wait until it was their turn for me to stay with them. That was going to be hard for me not being able to see my parents together anymore but I learned that it was for the best. While I was living with my mother during the week, my older brother took on the role of being the man of the house at the age of 14. At the beginning of the divorce everything was fine, going back and fourth to my dads and moms every weekend. But as time went by things were starting to go wrong. My father wasn’t getting me and my brother on his weekends that he was supposed to. That really hurt me because I felt like he didn’t want to spend time with me. I felt hurt and neglected towards my father. Things never changed; there would be times where I wouldn’t see my dad for 3 weeks straight. And it is still like that to this day. I feel as if my brother has been the father figure in my ...
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...simple day to day issues, let alone major life decisions. Although people tend to think carefully before they get married the rate of divorce continuously rises nowadays. There are a wide variety of reasons why people get divorced and I will highlight a few of these in this paper. Divorce in America: What’s love got to do with it? INTRODUCTION Divorce is any formal separation according to established custom, or a total disunion. There seems to be a growing trend in society today that when the going gets tough, get divorced. In order to see the effects of divorce in the United States, we have to take a closer look at what causes couples to make the decision to end their union and file for divorce. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,096,000 marriages in the US in 2010 and of those marriages 3.6% per 1,000 population ended in divorce (FASTSTATS, 2013). Those numbers sound scary to many couples considering marriage or who have just tied the knot; however, it is important to realize random forces don’t simply cause nearly half of all marriages to fail. Rather, couples divorce for very specific and common reasons, and not always the reasons you might think. Below are 8 of the most common reasons for divorce as listed by Octane.com (Cobus, 2012). Proper financial planning and management is essential to the success of a marriage. Arguments over money and how to manage it is the leading cause in divorce in the United States (Cobus, 2012). It...
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...the breakup of theirs parent's second marriage. Thankfully I never had to experience this and my parents are still happily married after twenty-seven years. Unfortunately, my husband's parents divorced when he was only three years old. Even to this day he still lives with the effects of it. Divorce is a horrible thing and it is really hard on anyone that is involved. The stress of modern living makes a long list of causes for a divorce and the effects from a divorce are never ending. The most common causes for a divorce are bad communication, cheating, financial problems, sex, and addictions. My husband's parents got divorced because they were no longer happy and fought all the time. Each parent has different reasons for their divorce, but I personally think that they got married young and they were growing into two different people. I know that financial problems and the stress of having two young children did not help with their marriage problems. I think there were a lot of causes behind their divorce and the last fight was just the straw that broke the camels back. Most three year olds can't remember what happened a month ago much less remember something twenty years later, but my husband remembers the fight that led his parents to divorce like it was yesterday and he was only three. I think it mentally affected my husband. He tries to avoid the topic of his parents divorce and he just holds it all in instead of talking about it. It was really hard on him not seeing his...
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...see the breakup of theirs parent's second marriage. Thankfully I never had to experience this and my parents are still happily married after twenty-seven years. Unfortunately, my husband's parents divorced when he was only three years old. Even to this day he still lives with the effects of it. Divorce is a horrible thing and it is really hard on anyone that is involved. The stress of modern living makes a long list of causes for a divorce and the effects from a divorce are never ending. The most common causes for a divorce are bad communication, cheating, financial problems, sex, and addictions. My husband's parents got divorced because they were no longer happy and fought all the time. Each parent has different reasons for their divorce, but I personally think that they got married young and they were growing into two different people. I know that financial problems and the stress of having two young children did not help with their marriage problems. I think there were a lot of causes behind their divorce and the last fight was just the straw that broke the camels back. Most three year olds can't remember what happened a month ago much less remember something twenty years later, but my husband remembers the fight that led his parents to divorce like it was yesterday and he was only three. I think it mentally affected my husband. He tries to avoid the topic of his parents divorce and he just holds it all in instead of talking about it. It was really hard on him not seeing his...
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...What is the Psychological Effect on Children during a Divorce? John Simpson Professor Patricia Dzandu Introduction to Psychology June 5th, 2011 Abstract In today's society, half of all marriages end in divorce. Many of those marriages involve children. Parents who are involved in a divorce are often concerned about the psychological effect on their children. During the time of a divorce the parents may be preoccupied with the ongoing problems that are involved but they still hold their roles as the most important people in their children’s lives. While a divorce may be devastating or relieving to a couple, children can become confused and scared by the threat to their security. But if a child feels loved and secured throughout the divorce, he or she may not be harmed during the divorce proceedings. Reflecting on these concerns, this paper aims to determine the psychological effects on children during a divorce. What is the Psychological Effect on Children during a Divorce? The definition of divorce, as explained by Merriam-Webster Dictionary “is the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”. But there is more to that word than the simple definition? Divorce affects more than just the couple involved. There are more consequences than just the legal dissolving of a marriage. Even the metaphorical definition, ‘dissolving’, brings to mind harmful effects. Things that dissolve tend to harm others around it. Acid burns when it contacts the human skin...
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...Divorce and Children According to the study that was done in 2004 "In the United States, between 43% and 50% of first marriages end in divorce"(U.S Census Bureau qtd inLansford 140). One can assume that many children will experience some affects caused by divorce. There is evidence to support that children would be better off if the parents stayed married and there is equal supporting evidence that it would be better off if they divorced. A survey done in 2009 by 1000 teenagers "When asked what the teens wanted their parents to know they said that divorce "hurts," "sucks" and that they "don’t want to be blamed for it" or caught in the middle"(GordonPoll Youth Survey qtd inJolivet 175). There are three main areas that impact children's experience with divorce such as behavioral, psychological, and social issues. Children are effected by divorce in many ways which cause their behavior to not be normal. When children go through a traumatic event, such as losing a parent to divorce, they want to act out because they are hurt, and do not know what to do with their emotions. An article written by Ahron Constance states "…..divorce prevents certain risks, is an emotionally stressful and complex transition for families, and continues to affect children into adulthood" (55). Divorce is a hard thing for children to learn how to cope with. Children of different ages rebel in different ways; they do this because at different age levels they cannot comprehend certain things and are...
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...The Impact of Divorce on Children Under the Age Of Eighteen Benjamin D. Hinely Liberty University Online PSYC 210 – D29 Abstract Divorce is the act of separating two married individuals legally and absolves both parties of marital obligation. It is, by its nature, destructive and stressful. Pulling a family apart rarely happens along clean lines and children can often be left confused and permanently effected emotionally and mentally. Depression is a major result in children. As are self esteem issues regarding self worth in relation to possible future marriage partners. In addition, there are other general relational problems. Children previously affected by divorce are more likely to see it as an option in their own relationships. Problems with relating to others and a lack of ability to trust implicitly are common as well. Academics are often negatively affected (ie. lower grades, in class disturbances, concentration conflicts) by these factors. It isn’t universal, however, that divorce always is a negative influence. There are those who go on to have good relationships and marriages. It is then not an exact thing to say divorce is always harmful to children. But the possibilities do exist and should then be accounted for. . Research The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines divorce as “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage and or separation and severance.” In more practical and real terms it is where two people split up their lives and divide...
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...skills; such as communication and social skills. Children can become vulnerable. Children need the continuing affection and support of both parents. “Not all parents are able to continue a relationship with their children after separation. There are no easy solutions to these difficult situations” According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of children under 18 years of age affected by divorce has decreased from 46,337 in 2010 to 43,867 in 2011. The average number of children per divorce was 1.9. Although there were no statistics taken recently, the numbers show a significant amount of children affected by divorce. During my survey of ‘impact of separation on children’, 100% of the people taking the survey knew someone that has been divorced or separated with children. My first key finding is that because of a young child’s sense of time perception, that separation between the child and the parent has a confronting impact on their emotional wellbeing. Children under two will often have a stronger emotional and physical dependence on their primary carer. A child at that age has a vastly different concept of time compared to older children, leading to issues with parenting arrangements. The needs of the child need to be considered, as the level of conflict between parents can make visits extremely stressful for a child at a young age. As the child gets older, they perceive time less distortedly than infants, but still experience a short period as being a much longer...
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