Divorce - Effects of Divorce on Children

Divorce

In the 1950s, divorces were unheard of among many families, and it was uncommon to find that a couple is divorcing unlike in the contemporary world. Many people viewed divorce as a sign of personal failure. The changes in the society in various aspects have made divorce socially acknowledged in the present society. Divorce is not considered a taboo because it is a common phenomenon among couples. Divorce affects many people in a family, but a group that remains negatively affected are the children. They suffer the greatest consequences because divorce brings negative events and changes that lead to psychological suffering, which is mostly more serious than their parents physical separation.

Effects of divorce on children

There are different cases of divorce in the contemporary world such the increase of individualism, which is presently considered a trend. Many people have become used being on their own and find it difficult to adjust and embrace to live and take care of somebody else in their lives. The rise of independent women in the present society makes the problem worse because they do not depend on a man to survive. The rising cases of women independency have encouraged the mounting cases of divorce as other men find it difficult to get married to dominant women. Divorces that involve children mostly affect them in a serious way as they are at crossroads on making decisions touching on their parents (Hodges, 2006). They have a feeling of being torn into two and fear that not taking sides of the parents would lead to either rejection or disapproval by either parent. There are different emotional effects associated with divorce on the children, as other children feel rejected by the parent who has walked out on the family or left home. As they become older, the child affected the divorce, start to believe that they cannot have confidence in other people. They tend to fear to repeat the similar mistake made by their parents and decide to distance themselves from people or impending relationships.

Another feeling associated with divorce is that the children might at times feel responsible for their parents break up, as they often view themselves as being a central figure in the family. In most cases, when a bad occurrence happens to their family they feel responsible and believe they are to blame for the problem (Portnoy, 2007). Each activity that takes place in the family is often linked to them and, therefore, they grow up with feeling of regret and worry by taking all the blame upon themselves. When ugly cases of divorce happen some parents place their children in the middle and makes them to choose between the two parents, which is wrong and unfair to the kids. Parents do not have to talk about their disagreements and resentments to the children and force them to pick sides in terms of start being against one parent.

The parents