Effects of Divorce on Children

According to our textbook (Lilienfeld), a study done on how children are affected by divorce was covered in the Time magazine. The study had claimed that the effects were worse than we had thought in the long run. The researched families had futures of failed career goals, messed up love relationships, and were emotionally unstable. The factor shooting down the study's claim was that it was not under a well-controlled experiment. The research families were not specifically categorized under being divorce due to simply separation of parents from each other. Death and other reasons for a married couple becoming single parents were not blocked out or known.

The reality is that children are able to go through the hardships of a divorce and be able to be perfectly fine later in life. The negative long-term effect claim from the study in the Time magazine is not true. It all mainly depends on the status of the family before and after the divorce. If the children have been growing up with their parents arguing all the time, in the end, the divorce is more of a relief than anything to not have to listen to the parents bicker all the time anymore. If the children rarely witness their parents argue and then are slammed with the divorce out of the nowhere, then it is a lot more difficult for the children to handle it for a good while. Not every child is going to be affected by divorce drastically in negative ways, but there are children who function different and who are not able to handle it as well as other kids.

I am 21 and my parents got divorced a little over a year ago. They have been arguing my entire life up to this point, so it was not too much of a shock that they would end up divorcing. The fighting was so bad that even I wanted a divorce for them from time to time. But when my parents finally did go through with the divorce, it still sucked. There is some emotional wreckage that goes on within. It is definately not easy to go through as the son or daugther no matter what side of the fence you are on. So I can completely understand how and why a child can grow up and have a messed up life. At the same time, I can also understand how the negative effects can be only short term. Everyone's initial reaction is sadness and confusion. Being around the arguments a lot though, it is easier to comprehend as to why the marriage had to succumb to divorce. And then you are able to move on.

VIDEO: Interview of Children of divorce -----> http://youtu.be/OBQ8Wx6JBxY