The negative effects of divorce on children

Since childhood, some people see their families is the sun in their solar system, and
their parents are the stars that illuminate their sky on dark nights. However, we are not taught
what to do when the moon covers our sun, when the eclipse breaks our stability, or how to
move on when the stars are not visible in the sky anymore. In other words, when our family
falls apart. According to Oxford dictionaries, a family is “A group consisting of two parents
and their children living together as a unit… A group of people related by blood or
marriage”. Nevertheless, even when marriage is supposed to last forever, reality brings in its
own adjustments, and about 30 out of 100 marriages cut short by a divorce or separation,
which is a difficult psychological process that affects not only the parents but also the
children. Divorce causes different emotional reactions in children that can affect their future
interpersonal relationships given that they are the ones who suffer the most in this heart-
breaking process.
Children from divorced parents present more psychological effects or problems than
those who live in intact family environments. With the separation, kids experience a strong
feeling of grief and loss, which is, in the long term, reflected in their behavior since they tend
to experience anxiety and depression. These kids may also feel guilty because they think they
are the reason of the break-up, and this feeling may quickly turn into fear of being left alone
or abandoned by one of the parents.
Additionally, divorces could bring about negative outcomes in children’s future
romantic relationships, work, and education in young adulthood. When it comes to romantic
and friendly relationships, they feel they cannot trust the person they are with because at a
certain point they are going to be cheated on or left alone. It has been proved that children of
divorced parents are more likely to go through a divorce themselves when they become
adults. The cause of this may rely on the fact that human beings learn by repetition; as a
result, children tend to repeat their parents’ actions and behavior to a certain extent in their
lives.
Finally, another downside effect of divorce in children is that their personal self-
esteem collapses. Consequently, they think they are not enough, because they feel that, just as
they could not keep their parents together, they will not be enough for anyone else. This
causes a child to become an adult who constantly doubts their worth, who always tries to
please other people in order to gain their acceptance, or to make people stay with regardless
of their own happiness.
 In conclusion, a parents’ divorce can have several psychological effects on children.
Kids are ones who suffer the most from these processes, because they cannot cope properly
with their grief; thus, they become emotionally unstable, and suffer the risk of repeating their
parents’ actions and behaviors by going through a divorce, or by having socialization and
trust issues in their adult life. Nevertheless, as a girl who experienced the divorce of her
parents, I may add that there is always a way to overcome the traumas that the divorce causes
in order to create our own happy life- a life free from insecurities and anger issues.

REFERENCES

Oxford learners dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/family_1