Divorce Many Parental Problems example essay topic

What effects does divorce have on a child? Divorce is often a way out of a struggling marriage; in the year 2001, there were 24,950 divorces in the United States, sixty percent of these divorces involve children (Alabama Center for Health Statistics). Divorcing parents is a very traumatizing experience to children that can lead to problems. Mental stress, parental problems, and adaptation to a step family are all effects divorce has on children, and as a result, causes an emotional struggle throughout a child's youth.

A divorce causes a child to go through a mass amount of mental stress. Because so much anger is shown through the divorce it brings upon many concerns for the child. For example, the child starts to feel like their parents don't love them anymore and they start to feel abandoned. Due to drawn-out custody battles the child starts to think that they are the reason for the divorce and begins to feel responsible. Divorce is a loss in the lives of the children and often times causes grieving for the child that is very similar to mourning a death. These mental stresses that a child goes through often time lead to behavior changes.

These behavior changes range from very mild behavior, such as difficulty sleeping, to extremely destructive behavior, such as suicide, drug abuse, or violence. Other behaviors may include problems in school, nervous habits, repetitive physical behaviors, and regressive behaviors such as bed-wetting, fears, and use of comfort items. This mental stress that children experience is a big part of the emotional struggle that the child must go through in a divorce. After a divorce many parental problems come about. First of all because the child will now live with only one parent, that child will never have both parents there for him / her at all times. Mothers and fathers are important resources for children to provide emotional support and practical assistance as well as serve as role models for their children.

Without both of these resources available at all times it may negatively affect the way the child is raised. Another parental problem brought upon by a divorce is when a child experiences experience's conflicts of loyalty, for example, who should the child spend the most time with? Dealing with this question is not something a child should have to deal with and hurts the child emotionally. Having parents now living totally separate lives usually results in the parents starting two separate families that the child will now have to adjust to.

One third of children will experience the remarriage of one or both of their parents. This means that the child must now try to belong to two new families. Step-families can be very complicated. With a number of children that are involved and new step-parent, a step-family can put a lot of strain on a child that must handle two of them.

Also because sixty percent of remarriages end in divorce the child is often separated from their new family. Studies from the Step Family Association of America have found children in stepfamilies to be susceptible to peer-pressure and deviant peer relationships, which may lead to later delinquent behavior and girls in stepfamilies, may be at increased risk for drug / alcohol use. Because children in stepfamilies and single-parent families report more negative stress in their lives, behavior problems and adjustment difficulties may be one reaction to stress. Stepfamilies cause confusion for a child and harm their emotional state. The emotional struggle a child must go through during a divorce can and often does change a child mentally and behaviorally. The average length of divorce proceedings is one year and when a child must deal with problems like mental stress, parental problems, and adjusting to a new step-family it puts a lot of strain on the emotions of the child.

Causes for divorce can range from trying to make a better environment for the child to the parents just not getting along. No matter the reason, for the 1,000,000 children involved in a divorce each year there will always be an emotional battle.