Effect on Children with Divorced Parents

Effect on Children with Divorced Parents

Karina Rodriguez

Northern Illinois University

April 22, 2014

Introduction

Children that come from broken families are more likely to experience greater hardships than children who grow up with both parents. Studies show why children with divorced parents are at high risk of suffering emotional, cognitive, and negative social problems. The effects of children of a divorced family feel caught between argumentative parents. Children react a certain way to their parents’ divorce; Children might respond with anger, fear or grief, and some are happy or indifferent. Other children feel embarrassed and try to hide their parents’ divorce from friends or simply pretend it is not happening. Marital instability in one generation is connected with problems in the next generation; marital stability promotes mental health and a logic of well-being.

Review of the Literature

Amato (2005) started to research why children with divorced parents are at high risk of suffering emotional, cognitive, and negative social problems because the rise in divorces during 1960s and 1970s left social scientists wondering what effects it could have on children. During this time scientists started researching the academic, behavioral, and emotional problems children with divorce parents experience.  Wallenstein and Kelly (1980) started a study of 60 divorced families and 131 children. In the study they found that one-third of the children were handling the situation very well and had a good relationship with both of their parents.  The rest of the children had a very hard time, were experiencing depression, not keeping friendships, and had hope that their parents would get back together. These findings help other scientists understand that divorces are very hard on children.

Amato (2005) did his experiment on 17,000 children between twelve and eighteen. In his experiment he found out that adolescents who live with only one parent have more problems; suffering emotional, cognitive, and negative social problems. About 30% of adolescents with divorced parents have repeated a grade, and only 18.8% have repeated a grade with married parents. Another finding was that children with both parents are less likely to be involved in delinquency or violence. Children who do not have parents who are divorced, have a higher standard living, receive more effective parenting, are more emotionally close to both parents, and parents who cooperatively co-parent.

Amato (2005) wanted to find if there was a way couples can strengthen their marriage and decrease divorces. Amato found that there is not a way it can be prevented.  Even though he could not find ways to prevent to decrease divorces he did come up with ways to improve the well-being of children, who come from divorced parents.  He suggested that parents should go to parent education classes for divorced parenting. Another suggestion is that parents should improve the quantity and quality of time spent with children. Amato states that when parents involve their children in disputes, make the children pick sides, or fight with each other for the children’s attention, the child is likely to experience distress.

. One example of distress the children is when they have to choose to spend certain occasions with one parent rather than the other. He also stated that children who feel caught between parents have an option, which is likely to be stressful. The option they have is to maintain a positive relationship with both parents, which places the children in a strange situation. The strange situation the children are placed is described with balance theory. Balance theory points out that holding positive feelings regarding two individuals who hold negative feelings between one another ends in a psychological dilemma.  

Amato’s (2006) first goal in this article is to understand the degree to which the children feel caught between argumentative parents. His second goal is to see if the feelings are connected between parental divorce, children’s emotional bonds with parents, and children’s subjective well-being. Amato’s last goal is to include children with married parents who have low and high conflict and divorced parents in his study.  The reason why Amato made these goals was because he wanted a better understanding on why conflict between parents increases the risks of many different emotional and behavioral problems in children.         

Amato’s (2006) method of his study was using a survey. He used three variables, which were high conflict marriage, low conflict marriage, and divorced families. High conflict marriage and low conflict marriage were the comparison group and divorced families were the independent variable. The age of children he used were around eleven year old and he studied 132 children. The three main questions he asked in his survey were, how often do parents involve their children in their conflict, how often did children feel that being closer to one parent meant being less close to the other parent, and how often children felt that their parents were competing for their attention.