Divorce in America and its effects on children

Essay by thightower1981College, UndergraduateA, July 2002

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Divorce In America

"Family is the basis of every society." Family is the way to have children, and it also provides protection and education for children. Children learn the first and most important things at home. Family gives values and norms. It gives children the support that they need in their lives. Unfortunately, during the twentieth century family has suffered the most dramatic change, the increase of divorce.

Infidelity, dishonesty, and even a personal failure to change something as simple as a bad habit cause the end of the family. Most of all, divorces end bitterly, having very negative effects on children. Children can lose all hope of having long lasting, meaningful relationships in life if they see their parents parting in such very different ways. When a parent decides to have a divorce, in many cases, they are thinking of themselves. Everyone has heard the argument "please think of the children."

Many results from a messy divorce are bitterness not necessarily from the other spouse, but from the children who witnessed it. It is very important that each parent get equal custody of the children from the broken family so that the children do not become alienated from one parent or the other. Children need to have strong relationships with both parents to have hope at having meaningful lives of their own.

As children from broken homes grow up, statistics show they have a higher tendency for violence. Children from broken homes, or are products of messy divorces, need to lash out at the world and take out aggressions that are not being addressed by the missing parent. Sons for example that do not have a dominant male role model in the household are 5 times more likely to get into drugs and be more abusive and...