Divorce is one of the social ills of the modern society. Recent studies have unfolded that almost every second marriage ends in separation or divorce. Divorce rips apart the children often tossing them from one family to the other and making them to take the painful decision to live with one parent. Such children have higher social and psychological issues. These children may have several adverse long term effects than children belonging to two parent families.
One of the biggest problems that divorce forces on children is the decision to choose to live with one parent. Scholars have observed that children in one parent family had a lower cognitive performance as compared with those who lived with both parents. It was also found that very young girls have developed negative relationships with their mothers and very young boys have a considerably lower cognitive performance than girls as a result of divorce (Ahrons, 2007).
Scholars have further observed that children from one parent have a higher dropout rate than those belonging to two parent families. Also children from divorced families have higher social and psychological issues. Also such children have issues in maintaining intimate relationships during adolescent and adulthood.
Divorce has certain long term effects on children. Scholars have observed that most of them experience a distressed childhood due to divorce. The most highly rated negative emotions were the feelings of loss and blame on father. Into their adulthood, children from single parent families view close family ties and personal relationships to be unreliable. Also some adults from divorced families were pessimistic about marriage and believed it is better not to marry as one does not have to go through the pain of divorce.
Finally a divorce leads to having an unequal relationship with both parents (Anderson, Kaplan & Lancaster, 2007). Hence it may be better to live in an imperfect marriage rather than going through a divorce. Hence, it is very important that parents think about the consequences of divorce on their children before taking the decision to terminate their marriage.
References:
Ahrons, C.R. (2007). Family Ties After Divorce: Long-Term Implications for Children. Family Process, 46, 53–65.
Anderson, K.G., Kaplan, H. & Lancaster, J.B. (2007). Confidence of paternity, divorce, and investment in children by Albuquerque men. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28, 1 – 10.
