In the recent years, the divorce rate in developing countries has been escalating with an alarming rate. When divorce happens, it does not only happen among two individuals. It happens among two families and it is an undeniable fact that the impact of this is pretty huge.Getting a divorce is a painful process in which the individuals, the children and of the course the families suffer as well. There are a few impacts that have been caused by the occurrence of divorce and there are a number of ways to overcome this problem.
Parental separation, may eventually benefit both the child and parents, depending on the family background and surroundings. The factors that mainly affects the child and family are parental stability, social supports, temperament, child’s age and strength to withstand tough conditions. The most dramatic impact of divorce rate is on the children. Firstly, children that come from families that have experienced a divorce and remarriage are more likely to drop out of school, have low academic score, disobey and break the school laws, drugs or alcohol addiction, and experiences emotional distress comparatively to those children who grew up with both their biological parents. Almost half of the children of divorced parents are found that having insecurity and expressed long term stress, whereby it affects their social and work relationships(Amato and Keith, 1991). The child might lose time with their parent too. Perhaps, to build a good relationship between parents and children, a parent needs to adjust their packed schedule and spent time with their beloved children. Thus, time investment and emotional strength in parenting is still lacking in divorced couple. Although laws change from time to time, most children tend spend most of their time with only one of the custodial parent which means that they obviously have less time to spend with the other parent. For most children, they tend to spend less time with their fathers as mostly the custody is given to the mother. The child might also spend less time with their moms as they may need to work for longer hours so that they can earn enough money to support the family.
Next, the child might lose emotional security(U.S.Census Bureau, 2011). Child may have a fragile relationship with his or her mother because divorced mothers are not able to provide adequate emotional support(Miller and Davis, 2009) because she is too stressed up thinking about her future and her children while divorced fathers spend less time with their children because the love towards family members in him might be lacking. The child may also start developing less interest towards family relations, traditions, and celebrations. Adult children whose adult parents are divorced also experience the loss of family traditions and severance of celebrations(Pett,Lang and Gander,1992).
Apart from that, a decrease in social and psychological maturation maybe experienced by the child for example college students whose parents were divorced were more likely to experience verbal onslaught and savagery from their partners during conflict judgement and lower scores may be produced on social relations. In addition, child might be less physically healthy. This can be proven based on a study that stated that almost one million children in Sweden validate that children growing up with single parents were ought to experience a serious psychiatric disorder, commit or attempt suicide, or develop an addiction for alcohol. Children living with single parents are less likely to experience upward financial mobility. In another study declared that the ratio of the children living with a single-parent has the strongest negative interact of upward income mobility. From my point of view, I feel that the most dramatic impact of divorce rate is on the children as they are affected the most in the aspects of education, mental health and violence.
Divorced parents also face difficulties financially, physically, emotionally and also in terms of health , which may also affect their children at the same time. When compared to divorced couples,married couples are more likely to have better health physically(CDC/NCHS National Health Interview,2012).Why it is say so, because married people smoke and drink less compared to divorced couple. Divorced couple tend to drink and smoke more as they feel lifeless and stressed after their divorce.Suicide is less common among married man comparatively to men who are divorced or separated. Married men has a 46 percent lower rate of dying from cardiovascular disease than unmarried men. Married women are do not really have to worry about their physical safety compared to divorced or separated women. Married and widowed women experienced less affectionate partner violence than divorced or separated women. Divorce may have inimical long-term (Money,Oliver and Smith, 2009) emotional effects for parents. Half of the women and one-third of the men were still angry with their former spouses. Only 10 percent of divorcee of partners feel they have achieved a happier live and one-fourth of the older divorced men remained stranded and lonely perhaps one-third of the women and one-fourth of the men felt that life was prejudiced and disappointing. One study demonstrated that those who were unhappy in their marriage when first surveyed, remained married, were likely to have an improved relationship and be happier five years later than those who divorced. About 25% of custodial mothers face depression and emotional problems because they are too far from their children after the separation process, while after a divorce parental conflict over child care issues places children at particular risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Substance abuse by either parent may be a factor in parenting inadequacy. Parents must have a good understanding and should learn to tolerate each other once they are hitched, as their responsibilities are much more bigger after marriage in order to carry out a healthy marriage and to discourage them from divorcing.
Divorce rate adversely affects the society as well. Firstly, divorce rate may diminish child’s future savvy and weakening the family bonding. Divorce rate might be contributing to early sexual experimentation leading to increased costs for society. It also negatively affects religious practices in which divorce reduces the frequency of religious believes. Perhaps, declines a child’s learning capacity and educational fulfillment besides reducing the household income. Separation rate also affects the increase in crime rates and substance use, with associated societal and governmental costs.
After looking at the impacts of the divorce on different individuals,there are a few solutions to overcome the side effects of divorce especially on children.As stated above, children face the most impact due to the separation of their parents.When it comes to children and family, physicians can play their role by playing a supportive role with the parents and give their advise on what is best for the children after separation or divorce of the parents.Physicians should carry the responsibility of advising parents about strategies for effective communication with their children ( Paediatric Child Health, 2000) . Parents are even advised not to argue or scold their ex-spouse in front of their children.They help educate parents to understand false accusations of child abuse harm children and ex-spouses.From my point of view, physicians do play a crucial role in helping the family to get over the divorce. They assist the children and make the parents understand the needs of their children, how to not make divorce as a bad impact on the child’s life.This brings about better mental health for those children who are affected by the separation of their parents.
Another solution to this problem is by preventing the divorce by strengthening marriages. Firstly,the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program(PREP) from the article of Strengthening Marriages and Preventing Divorce was designed to educate couples regarding the skills and the ground rules in dealing with conflicts and to promote intimacy in a six hour session(Scott M.Stanley,1995) .Techniques such as time out are taught to be used by the couples in this program. This is to put a hold on situations from escalating and turn it into a more positive mode of communication. This programs applies both behavioral and cognitive involvement in which couples are taught very structured and specific methods of effective communication as well as educating the participants regarding the danger signs which leads to marital failure.In my opinion, communication among couples is the key point to save their relationship and prevent marital distress.If a relationship is salvageable then its definitely better than getting a divorce which is a very long and painful process.
In a nutshell, divorce affects so many different individuals in so many different ways. Psychologists should play their part in discouraging divorce among couples to promote mental health. Even after divorce parents should pay full attention to their children so that they are mot neglected.Government should enforce the law to get divorce so that couples will think wisely before making a decision to get a divorce.Those couples who have problems with each other should consider going for counselling so that they can deals with the differences among them.
