What Is Divorce - Essay Sample for Everyone to Check

Divorce is primarily the act of dissolving a marriage either legally or informally. It involves conclusive discussions as to why the two parties seek to end their union. In incidences as in the case involving courts, several options are also looked upon before the actual divorce decision is settled upon as the last option for the marriage.

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What do we mean by effects of divorce?

Effects of divorce refer to the outcomes, or what is evident in the occurrence of a divorce. In this case it is usually non-partisan and can be positive effects or negative effects. Twenty years after their parents divorce, most of the adult children had experienced the remarrying of at least 1% (Constance R., pp 60)

It beyond reasonable doubt that researchers also argue that there are positive reasons for divorce with regard to children but our research centers on the negatives as they outweigh the positive effects. In fact, The effect of divorce on childrens hearts, minds, and souls ranges from mild to severe, from seemingly small to observably significant, and from short-term to

Long-term (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill, pg. 2)

Thesis statement:

The research paper therefore seeks to look at the various negative effects of divorce on children. Being more general as it looks, it is going to be categorized well enough to look at these effects during the pre-divorce, the divorce itself and post-divorce. The effects are also to be detailed to capture the physical, social and economical effects in this context.

Effects of divorce on children:

Social effects:

In the pre-divorce phase children may have tendencies of insecurity. With this regard they may not clearly know whose fault it is. They end up losing their trust in both parents because either way they feel they are responsible for such happening context.

Divorce often results in the loss of contact with one parent and with loss children also lose the knowledge, skills and resources (Robert J. Hughes, pg. 2), and another fear they may have is that of neglect, of course during the pre-divorce periods the couples would much find themselves concentrating much on the divorce formalities and the childs welfare will be to some extent out of context.

Social effects of divorce:

A spirit of withdrawal is usually cultivated with regard to this situation. The majority of children become sensitive as they feel that not even their mothers can offer emotional support in such critical times. Children in divorced families receive less emotional support, financial assistance, and practical help from their parents (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill, pg.2). They may look at it as a strategy to avoid verbal arguments or even physical insults from their friends. This being they will lack one of the parents who can protect them in examples of cases mentioned above.

Social effects during divorce:

These effects are gauged mostly with the reactions of the both parties during this period. Psychologically it may cause trauma in the children's day to day lives that it has emanated from a single crisis that is the divorce, can continue to a long series of repeated trauma. The constant fights between the parents usually become too much to bear during the divorce period, this contributes to a lower well being of the child (Robert J. Hughes)

The feeling of helplessness, desperation to find a new replacement is just some of the logical impacts of the legal action of divorce. Most parents yell and even abuse their children as they become short-tempered in such cases and this goes a long way mostly in cases where the whole thing is not explained to the child in order that he or she may understand. Divorce also permanently weakens the family and the relationship between children and parents (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill, pg.1)Most divorced parents feel that they are not justified in either way to explain the plans to ensure that care, protection and the general welfare of the child is not compromised. What they do not know is that this can help reduce their fears of bad uncertainties of how the future is to transition. After divorce, it is not uncommon for fathers to feel that they have become unimportant in their childrens lives (Constance R. pg 62).

Another social effect is the development of poor and unbecoming behavioral responses in an example like consistent throwing of tantrums, clinging on to the parents he or she wishes to stay with. This case is when the child: old enough identifies a wrong doer in this case and consequently develops a You- deserve punishment attitude. The childs future relationships are compromised as with the co-parenting struggles in place (Constance R.).

Another serious effect is that of depression whose symptoms are variable in cases of adolescents and children. There are chronic cases of:

Poor concentration

Loss in interest in school

Isolation

Loss of attachment

Pregnancies

Economic Loss (Robert J. Hughes pg. 2)

Effects of Post-divorce:

Most children find themselves straining from the thought that they have to adapt to the thought that they actually lost a crucial member of the parents. The loss consequently generates reduced frequencies of a fathers closeness to the children. Hence contact and chemistry between the father and the children is lost (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill, pg. 3) .This deals the children a great blow as they feel insecure. They also struggle to get along well with the new environment more so without the father head figure head in the picture. In the new environment the children especially teenagers may be introduced to drug and substance abuse at early ages, just to find solace in cases they feel that their needs have been neglected. In turn they may engage in immoral and even criminal activities that can compromise their lives through unwanted pregnancies breeding abortion and ultimately death (Robert J. Hughes, pg 4).

Economical effects in pre-divorce:

The parents may spend a lot of money in conducting the formalities required of them in filing divorce suites. This therefore would strain the financial needs of the child and hence compromising the welfare of the child (Robert J. Hughes, pg 3).

Economical effects in divorce:

In the entire divorce life, the children still struggle to enjoy their childhood as even some basic necessities that e.g. the father used to provide for them may be limited. Some grown up are forced to look for alternative sources of making money in order to supplement the little that one of the parents provides in the house. Therefore some children may be involved in illegitimate means of generating income.

Economical effects in post-divorce:

In cases where the mother does a retaliatory move to relocate to another city or town, it may interfere with the way in which the father sees his children and consequently his role of offering child support may be seen by constant delays of giving money and even termination of his frequent checks on the children. With prolonging of this trend the mother may seek help in court which would also then invite other judicial expenses that need to be settled and in the long run the mother and the children alike would strain in getting their financially-based needs. Children in divorced families receive less emotional support, financial assistance and practical help from their parents (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill pg 3)

When the mother is ultimately forced to look for a means of income, the child may look at this as another loss all together. Taking it from the fact that the only parent left of him or her is to be away. This leads to upset and trauma on the side of the child not old enough to understand.

Many divorced families change residence which may result in changes in schools, child care, friends, and other supportive relationships.(Robert J. Hughes pg. 3)

Physical effects of divorce:

Physical effects of divorce on children are usually more pronounced in the latter stages of life if this cause is not identified in time, symptoms of long term physical include:

Loss of appetite:

Depression in children may cause loss of appetite in them and in the long run, they start developing health complications, this is easily seen in most teenagers losing a lot of weight and other nutrition-related diseases due to the same context.

Increased accidents:

This is a much tangible evidences of frustrations in children, where they are mostly involved in. They are likely to show inability to handle conflicts (Patrick F. and Aaron Churchill pg. 4). You may find them engaging in fist fights where they may end up being hurt; walking on the road without carefully observing rules may render them susceptible to accidents that are car-involved. In extreme cases, the children may even resort to committing suicide when they wrongly perceive no purpose for living context.

With a change of homes, schools, places or environment after divorce, children may not find the right friends, environments and places of amenities like playing fields where they play sports. They would then mostly remain withdrawn and become more stressed (Robert J. Hughes pg. 5). This can limit them the opportunity to exercise and stay strong and therefore become weak and of poor health.

Works Cited

Patrick F. Fagan and Aaron Churchill,(January,11,2012),The Effects of Divorce on Children.

Constance R. Ahrons(2007),Family Ties after Divorce:Long term Implications for Children.

Robert Hughes J.(January 4,2005),The Effects of Divorce on Children.