Table of Contents
Introduction
Divorce refers to marriage dissolution or breakage and always involves the separation of parents from their children. A divorce has a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of a child. It undermines the development of children. The topic of divorce and its implications for a child is important in the field of human development. It enables professionals and learners to understand how divorce affects child development. Divorce or separation affects the development of children at all stages. By learning divorce and its consequences into detail, professionals can create measure and strategies, which can boost child development. Lack of proper attention to children from divorced families might have a detrimental impact on their growth and development (Broderick & Blewitt, 2014). Thus, this topic is fundamental to the field of human development as it enables one to know how divorce affects child. Some of the measures that caregivers or partners should undertake to ensure proper development of a child include making sure that infants get utmost care during deployment and providing reassurance to the young children to make them not look neglected. They should also ensure that a child gets the appropriate care he needs from either friends, community and other related family members. Therefore, divorce is a critical topic because it directly affects the development of a child. It interferes with the cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and moral development of a child.
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Developmental Impact
Divorce affects the development of a child at all ages and stages. It affects both toddlers and adolescents. First, at the age of 0-3 years, children experience psychological issues, which involves abandonment and trust. During this age, children require security and protection that they get from their mother. However, when children stay away from their mother, they feel abandoned. The separation makes children not to trust relationships, and that might affect their entire life until adulthood. Young children between the age of 0-3 years may react to emotions if they see their parents quarrel and separate (Vélez et al. 2011). Second, for children between 3-5 years, divorce instills fear in them. They become worried about who will take care of them. The fear that they will be alone and that affects their growth. If either a mother or a father separates, a child would feel lonely and desperate. Divorce affects children emotionally, and they feel that they will no longer see either of their parents. Third, at ages 6 to 8 years, children begin to worry about how they will face life without their parents (Hetherington & Arasteh, 2014). Divorce makes them depressed and worried about their future. Finally, at the adolescent stage, separation makes the youngsters pay less attention to relationships. They are less sociable. Therefore, the issue of divorce affects a child at all ages and stages.
Divorce affects the development progress of a child. Parent separation inhibits the development of a child (Kim, 2011). When a young child separates from the mother, the child will get less food. Mothers know how to feed their children and separation would be harmful to them. Lack of adequate food make a child underweight, and that negatively affects his physical development. Therefore, in the event of a divorce, caregivers need to provide sufficient food to children so as to enhance their physical development. Divorce makes children weak, and they do not relate with others well. Besides, divorce makes children lonely, and they cannot grow both socially and physically. It is challenging for a child to progress because of breakage mother-child bond. Therefore, divorce issue is critical as it undermines the full development of a child.
Significantly, divorce affects the cognitive, social, relationship, and moral development of a child. Divorce interferes with the cognitive intelligence of a child (Lansford, 2009. For instance, children from divorced families are often academic dwarfs. They perform poorly in class compared to children from ordinary families. Their level of IQ is low and cannot integrate different factors properly. Further, divorce impacts the child’s development. Children from divorced families do not interact with others freely. They distance themselves from other people due to fear. They also participate in dangerous social activities such as theft and drug abuse (Sandstrom & Huerta, 2013). Moreover, divorce makes children to fear relationships. Separation of parents makes children believe that relationships are bad. Children grow with the knowledge that divorce is a normal thing hence can easily divorce their partners. Finally, separation of parents negatively affects the moral development of a child. Children from divorced families are often indiscipline, and they participate in dangerous activities that are unethical. Therefore, divorce is a serious issue as it disorients the whole development of a child.
Faith and Professional Impacts
Christianity agitates for proper development of a child. It contradicts and prohibits any act that may cause harm to children. Christianity does not allow divorce unless when a partner is indecent or unpleasing. Christian couples should stay together without divorcing to ensure proper development of their children. Christianity recommends a happy family where there is good interaction between a child and the parents. Therefore, according to Christianity, divorce is bad and families should avoid it because it derails the development of a child.
Human service providers must pay attention to all the development aspects of children from divorced families. They must help the affected children to fight the depression and torture which the divorce has caused. Professionals must know that divorce is a serious problem which affects child development. Hence they need to create appropriate measures and practices which can ensure that children from developed families develop without any difficulty.
Resources
Educational Readings
Impact of Divorce on Children: Development Considerations
I recommend this journal or reading to any individual who wants to understand the impact of divorce on children’s development. The reading presents how divorce affects the education of a child. It examines various concerns in different development stages including infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, and adolescents.
The Impact of Parental Separation and Divorce on the Health Status of Children, and the Ways to improve it.
The article describes how divorce affects the health of children. Clients can read it to understand the various health consequences such as mental problems and depression. It helps people to see how divorce changes the behavior of a child and become more susceptible to violence and suicide.
Referral Sources
Divorce Help Clinic
Divorce Help Clinic is an essential company that provides support and counseling services to parents. The company advice on the reasons why parents should not separate or divorce because of its detrimental consequences on the development of a child. This organization is helpful to clients who wants to see or establish the effects of divorce on child growth and development.
Ackerman Institute for the Family
The company offers counseling services to couples. It enables parents to acquire necessary tools, which they can give their children to help them cope in case they divorce or separate. It helps in preventing children from getting developmental challenges.
- Broderick, P.C. & Blewitt, P. (2014). The Life Span: Human Development for Helping Professionals. Pearson Education.
- Hetherington, E. M., & Arasteh, J. D. (2014). Impact of divorce, single parenting and stepparenting on children: a case study of visual agnosia. Psychology Press.
- Kim, H. S. (2011). Consequences of parental divorce for child development. American Sociological Review, 76(3), 487-511.
- Lansford, J. E. (2009). Parental divorce and children’s adjustment. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(2), 140-152.
- Sandstrom, H., & Huerta, S. (2013). The Negtive Effects of Instability on Child Development: A Research Synthesis. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
- Vélez, C. E., Wolchik, S. A., Tein, J. Y., & Sandler, I. (2011). Protecting children from the consequences of divorce: A longitudinal study of the effects of parenting on children’s coping processes. Child Development, 82(1), 244-257.