Impact of Divorce on Children.

" Impact of Divorce on Children"

What are the effects of divorce on children? To answer this it is necessary to examine the impact of divorce on children's mental health, their learning ability and relationships. The objective of this paper is to describe the effects of parental separation on children who are at different developmental stages and learning levels.

Divorce can negatively effect children by giving them long-term stress and insecurity apparently giving them emotional distress that would last for a lifetime. "Some studies suggesting that a high proportion of children that are negatively affected by divorce are biased due to clinical samples that were drawn from families who were in therapy rather than from the general population. Wallerstein and Blakeless, for example, conducted a long term study of middle class children of divorced parents, and found that almost half of the children expressed long term stress and insecurity that adversely affected their work and social relationships.

Issues in Mental Health Nursing

English: Institute of Mental Health building in Be...

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(Wallerstein J, Blakeless S. Second Choices - Men, Women and Children a Decade after Divorce. New York: Technor and Fields, 1989.)" (1). Evidence suggest that more often the children of the divorce families are engulfed with depression they experience moderate or severe depression, because they think that they are the primary cause of their parent's separation. The guilt felt by these children has long-term effects on them and it emerges at a time when they are trying to make their own decisions. This burden (depression) haunts them through out their life.

Parental separation can make children less able learners by affecting their problem-solving capabilities and reading skills making them more likely to drop out of school. "In summary, 30% of the children in the present study experienced a marked decrease in their academic performance following parental separation, and this was evident three years...