The Paper Details Various Effects That Divorce Has On Children (Essay Sample)

Effects of Divorce on Children
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Effects of Divorce on Children
Understanding how a divorce affects children is of great importance to their well-being and development. It is an undeniable fact that divorce brings about massive changes to the parents, and more so to the children affected. From witnessing the breaking up of the parents, going back and forth between households, and having one parent absent from their lives, these challenges significantly affect the kids both psychologically and physiologically both in the short and long terms.
As for children as they know it, divorce is simply the death of their family and a break of trust. The childhood stage is a dependent one: the child relies heavily on parental love and care. The family is the center stage of the kid’s life. When the parents break up, the child’s trust on the reliance of their parents gets disturbed as the parents show extremely undependable behavior. The divorce takes apart the family into different homes where the child has to move to and fro, which creates instability, unfamiliarity, and insecurity (Pickhardt, 2011). Furthermore, the child never gets to be able to be with one parent without being away from the other, and therefore, straining the parent-child relationship.
Parent break-ups expose children to various behavioral and psychological difficulties. These effects not only manifest in a child’s personal life but also in other areas such as academics and social life. The kids are likely to develop problems of disobedience, rule violations, and anger, and suffer from depression and anxiety. According to Desai (n.d.), children from divorced families are more likely to be put behind bars for perpetrating a crime as a juvenile. Moreover, such kids are also easy to engage in sexual intercourse and abuse drugs. Even their academic performance is probable to suffer. Desai further reveals that children whose parents have undergone divorce suffer academically. The behavioral problems they experience affects their grades, and hence the declined academic performance.
Divorce strengthens up the children. Even though divorce has many negative implications on the children involved, the kids can develop positive attributes too. Many children whose parents divorce are tough and have a high level of resiliency. The pain, grief, and hardships that they undergo make them stronger individuals. As Hopf (2010) reveals, 75 – 80 percent of children from divorced families can develop into full-grown adults with no permanent behavioral or psychological problems. Furthermore, they can achieve their life goals and build close and fruitful relationships.
Parents are important resources in a child’s life. They are the children’s role ...