There are three occurrences that have a devastating effect on children. Ranked in order of their prominence, they are: war, natural disaster and divorce. The family unit is a source of security to any child, and divorce collapses the very structure of the family. This has a deep impact on the child for they know not how to create a zone of security.
Effects of divorce are not felt at the time of the act and they do not subside there. The negative impact of divorce is felt for the next three decades in a child’s life, completely affecting the best years of youth.
“Divorce harms children”; a universal truth. The negative impact of divorce is felt on children of all age groups. Boys get more affected than girls and sink into depression and girls probably get recourse in tears. Emotional, social and economic disturbances are the other common implications of divorce. Intimacy and social security are required for proper development. Children below the age of five suffer the most when their parents divorce. Older children seek recourse away from home.
Emotional and Social Impact of Divorce
The worst possible situation for a child is to be part of a high conflict marriage that does not end or in a low conflict marriage that abruptly ends.
Many divorced families also shift house and stay in different localities and the children start studying in different schools. Divorce disturbances compounded by locality changes greatly affect the child.
The damaging effects of divorce spill over on to the next generation of children too.
Teenage suicide rates are highest among children of divorced parents for such children cannot handle stress effectively.
Many surveys singularly prove that the majority of the drug addicts are children of divorcees.
Social withdrawal, mental disorders and exhibition of an aggressive nature is more prevalent among children whose parents have divorced.
Stress has a two way impact on a child; either the child is forced into adulthood or remains permanently underdeveloped, both of which are equally harmful. In other words the child is not normal.
Divorce of parents creates many emotional upheavals. Added to this the children are burdened with a sudden shift in the singular parent’s attitude; the emotionally aloof parent turns emotionally dependant after divorce.
Boys turn aggressive when they are with their mothers and the fate of girls is worse if they choose to stay with the single adult man who might happen to be a father or step father. 87% of the women who are from divorced families are likely to divorce within the first five years of marriage.
School drop out rates among children from divorced families are twice the number of child drop outs from normal families.
Children exposed to the harsh environment of divorce start scoring lower on the three fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic, have lower rates of graduation and their attendance is 60% lower than children from normal families.
Economic Impact
Women, and consequently the children with her, suffer most after a divorce. Only 50% of the men pay the full compensation after a divorce, 25% of the men pay infrequently while 25% never make any payment at all.
But the current trends seem different. The economic impact may not be felt much, for the average mother in a family is working and is earning enough to take care of her children independently. Also, a woman with a low income normally does not opt out of marriage as she fears supporting her children alone due to her inevitable loss of income.
Unfortunately, as so often is the case in life, money matter; it seems a child’s wellbeing is directly related to the economic well being of the family.
