Effects of Divorce Presented by:

on Children. Laiba Ejaz

Yusra Asghar
Jennifer William
Hamza Anwar
 Social Impact of Divorce
❖Friendship suffers.
❖Change in social activities.

❖Stress and lack of social interaction.

❖Affect of income on children.

 How children are effected by Divorce
1. Worry to be “kicked out”.
2. Feeling powerless and helpless.
3. Need for nurturing.
4. Angry.
5. The feel of being guilty.
6. Abandonment.
7. Grieve.
8. Loyalty.
 Age and stages
1. INFANT TO 2 YEARS:
1. Too young to understand.
2. May sense stressful environment.

2. PRESHHOLER AGES 2-5:

❖ Lack of mental ability to understand.

❖ Confused, angry, sad, and fearful.

❖ May believe they are at fault.

❖ Bed wetting or thumb sucking.

3.CHILDREN AGES 6-8:
1. Anger, grief, deep yearning for the departed parent.
2. Causing tantrums.
3. May feel responsible for taking care of parents.
4. Criticizing other parent in front of their children.

4.CHILDREN AGES 9-12:

❖ Seeing two points of view.
❖ Need to talk about their feelings and acknowledge anger.
❖ May identify “good guy”/”bad guy”; focused on what’s “right and fair”.
❖ Puberty makes it difficult to be separated from same-sex parent.
❖ 5.ADOLESCENCE (AGE 13 -18):
❖ More developed socially and emotionally.

❖ “growing up too fast”.

❖ May act out anger and frustration through, substance abuse, sexual promiscuity.
❖ Honest communication from both sides of issue.
6.EMERGING ADULTHOOD (AGE 18-25):
Accelerated independence - growing up faster
Early departure from family.
Involvement with alcohol, drugs or inappropriate
sexual behavior to “escape” pain
Loss of “Home”.
 NEWS 01
1. Children `suffer trauma of
divorce into adult life'.

❖ Divorce seriously affects the academic prospects of children of broken marriages,

with other long-lasting effects reaching into their adult lives.
❖ There is something special and specific about divorce as it affects children. It is partly
poverty, as income in divorced families tends to fall, and partly to do with self-esteem.
If a father has left and is not supporting the home in the same way, the child sees it
as a judgment on their self-worth. Low self-esteem is not good for school work.'
 ARTICLE # 1

PARENTAL DIVORCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED

RISK TO DEVELOP MENTAL DISORDERS IN WOMEN
Institute for Health and Behavior, Research Unit INSIDE, University of
Luxembourg, 11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Department of Clinical Psychophysiology, Institute of Psychobiology,
University of Trier, Johanniterufer 15, 54290 Trier, Germany
Received 12 December 2018, Revised 15 March 2019, Accepted 30 June
2019, Available online 2 July 2019.
ABSTRACT:
Parental divorce has been associated with reduced well-being in young adults. It
is, however, unclear whether this finding is clinically relevant as studies using
structured clinical interviews are missing. This study, therefore, investigated if
young adults with divorced parents are at risk to develop mental disorders.
Furthermore, differences in parental care, social connectedness, chronic stress
and traumatic experiences between children of divorced and non-divorced
parents were investigated.
CONCLUSION:
The increased vulnerability of children of divorced parents to develop mental
disorders, and to experience more chronic stress, loneliness, attachment
avoidance, attachment anxiety, and traumatic experiences during childhood is
alarming and highlights the importance of prevention programs and psycho-
education during the process of parental divorce. Parental support with regard
to adequate caregiving is needed to help parents to better support their children
during and after their divorce.
Fig. 1. Illustration of the childhood trauma subscales per group (no parental divorce
vs. parental divorce). Error bars indicate one standard deviation.
In this study, an increased risk for children of divorced parents compared to
children of non-divorced parents to develop a mental disorder during young
adulthood could be observed. However, no increased incidence with regard to
personality disorders was found. Furthermore, parental divorce was associated
with less parental care, more emotional and physical abuse, more emotional
neglect, more loneliness, chronic stress and attachment avoidance and anxiety.
The results highlight the need for adequate prevention programs to support both
children and parents during this emotionally difficult period.


 REFERENCE:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032718330957
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.071
 NEWS 02
2. CHILDREN OF DIVORCE SAY THEIR EXAM
RESULTS 'SUFFER', WHILE OTHERS TURN TO
DRUGS.

❖Children who have witnessed their parents go through a divorce feel that they
are performing worse at school as a result and the devastating impact of family
breakdown can lead young people to experiment with drink or drugs.
❖Divorce was also found to lead to damaging behavior, with around 14% saying
they had started to drink alcohol and 13 % admitting to experimenting with
drugs. Meanwhile, 28 % said they changed their eating habits in the wake of a
split.

 ARTICLE # 2
The Effects of Divorce on Children: Mothers’
Perspectives in UAE
FAKIR M. AL GHARAIBEH
Department of Sociology, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab
Emirates
 ABSTRACT:
This study examined the effects of divorce on children in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). A structured questionnaire was conducted with 1,742 divorced
women and SPSS was used for quantitative data analysis. The aim of this
quantitative analysis was to determine the social, psychological, health, and
schooling effects of divorce on children (ages 1–18) in the UAE. The study
confirmed that children are adversely affected. The study found that divorce
was associated with a higher incidence of several impacts of divorce such as
economic hardship, lack of concentration in school, sleeping disorders, and
challenge and stubbornness. This is the first study in the UAE exploring the
social, psychological, health, and schooling effects of divorce on children and to
gain an understanding of the unknown aspects of the divorce phenomenon in
the region.

  CONCLUSION:
Children are the most vulnerable members of the family as a result of divorce and
conflict in general. Research conducted in the United States showed that children
from divorced families or born into divorced families face more problems with their
studies, a more difficult life, and cause more trouble for their parents compared with
children from normal families. Divorce is related to increase in depression and
anxiety for both boys and girls of all ages so, Children whose parents divorce gets
affected a wide range of emotional reactions, including sadness, anger, loneliness,
depression, heightened anxiety, worry, lower life satisfaction, lower self-esteem, lower
self-confidence, fear, yearning, rejection, conflicting loyalties, and a sense of guilt for
their parents’ problems.
Social workers in the UAE will need to pay attention to school-based programs that
offer support for children who experience stigma and maladjustment by identifying
strategies to reduce these emotional difficulties and financial hardship. This would
provide a good opportunity for children to be protected from divorce, reduce stress,
and advance their school performance.
 REFERENCE:
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/105025
56.2015.1046800