How Does Divorce Affect a Child’s Behaviour? Essay Example

How does divorce affect a child’s behaviour? Divorce is the legal separation or final termination of marriage where all legal duties and responsibilities between the involved couple are withdrawn (Wikipedia, 2010). It is not a single event but rather a time consuming process that does not only affect the involved party but also close family members, especially children. Although parents may benefit from a divorce, children endure the loss of a parent. This has been an issue throughout the world as its impact on child well-being has concerned both the general public and professionals. Children distressed from parental seperation are bound to have academic difficulties, emotional distress, problems with physical health, behavioural changes and psychological difficulties(Furstenbercs, Morgan & Allison, 1987 & Videon, 2002). This review will mainly focus on children’s attitudes associated with parental separation and comparisons will be made with children from intact families. It is obvious that children may experience behavioural changes due to influences from peers. However, researchers have proven that children have poorer conduct associated with marital dissolution. This review will critically analyse limited sources determining the consequences of parental separation versus children’s behaviour. The contents of this review will be divided into three sections; firstly, the statistics of divorce would be discussed; secondly, it will examine the behavioural changes evident in children from divorced families also including how different gender adjust to parental separation; finally, it would consider the risk factors and protective factors. To begin with, marital separation has been an issue over the past decades due to its relatively common occurrence which partially explains the fluctuating trend of divorce rates in the modern world. Statistics retrieved from Wikipedia dealing with divorce rates in the United States and the United Kingdom are reliable