The Adjustment of Children of Divorce

The Adjustment of Children of Divorce

The Adjustment of Children of Divorce
It is hard to imagine a more difficult transition for a child than to be a party to his or her parents' divorce. The children in a divorcing family know that nothing will ever be the same again, and their previously secure world is in a state of change. So what can parents do to help mitigate the impact of a divorce? Understand that a parent can’t make the effects go away, but they can make the situation more tolerable and secure for a child. Both parents must be involved. It does very little good for one parent alone to work at reassurance. Both parents need to make sure the children understand that both mom and dad will still be their parents. When parents divorce, the traditional family is broken, leaving children with negative adjustment problems that can be devastating and harmful for child development. These problems are caused by the loss of family income, the psychological adjustment and parenting practices of the custodian parent, and the level of involvement of the non custodian parent.
Divorce and the loss of family income disrupts the transfer or sharing of money between parents. In order for a child to develop properly it is important for structure and stability to be provided for them. When divorce occurs this structure and stability can be lost by the custodian parents change in income. In McLanahan and Booths article, “Mother only families: Problems, Prospects, and policies,” they explain that this decline in the standard of living might cause children to feel frustrated or angry. With limited money, it might force the single parent and children to move to lower class neighborhoods. Lower class neighborhoods usually have high crime rate. Schools in poorer neighborhoods are usually not properly funded and are most likely an inadequate source of education for children. This type of environment increases the risk for internal and external problems for the children.
The psychological well being...

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