In the last decades, a lot of research has been conducted on the outcomes of divorce on children. Researchers have investigated different aspects in different countries.
Many observations correspond. The most common are:
Outcomes of Divorce on Children are Positive
There are also different views among the researchers. Fortunately, many children of divorce learn to cope with the situation.
After a while they leave many of the negative effects behind. For their own future, they decide to do it better than their parents did.
The research that was conducted in the 70's painted a very negative picture. Today the outcomes of divorce on children seems to be less dramatic.
There is a correlation with the increased social acceptance of divorce. There may be a causal relationship.
The researchers Blakeslee and Wallerstein interviewed many children of divorce in the 1980's. They found:
What exactly the outcomes of divorce on children are, is difficult to say. Good parenting is more important for the well being of a child than being raised by a father and a mother in a family structure (concluded by Booth and others).
According to them, a lack of education, a low income, depression and insufficient support from the mother produces young children with bad adjustment and poor behavior.
Of course, a divorce can cause these conditions: a divorced mother earns a low income and has less time for their children because she has to work.
Today divorce has become socially accepted. In the recent past a divorce could result into social isolation. Luckily, these days are over in the modern world.
Nowadays, a divorce does not incur as much violence as in the past. Shame and the feeling of failure are much lower than in the past (Amato).
People see divorces everywhere. They see the sadness and the emotions. But now we all know, including parents and children, that a divorce is not the end of the world.
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