More than 30 years of research continues to reveal the negative effects of divorce on children. Most of these measurable effects are calculated in increased risks. In other words, while divorce does not mean these effects will definitely occur, it does greatly increase the risks. Research comparing children of divorced parents to children with married parents shows:
· Children from divorced homes suffer academically. They experience high levels of behavioral problems. Their grades suffer, and they are less likely to graduate from high school.
· Kids whose parents divorce are substantially more likely to be incarcerated for committing a crime as a juvenile.
· Because the custodial parent’s income drops substantially after a divorce, children in divorced homes are almost five times more likely to live in poverty than are children with married parents.
· Teens from divorced homes are much more likely to engage in drug and alcohol use, as well as sexual intercourse than are those from intact families.
· Children from divorced homes experience illness more frequently and recover from sickness more slowly. They are also more likely to suffer child abuse.
· Children of divorced parents suffer more frequently from symptoms of psychological distress. And the emotional scars of divorce last into adulthood.
The scope of this last finding – children suffer emotionally from their parents’ divorce – has been largely underestimated. Obviously, not every child of divorce commits crime or drops out of school. Some do well in school and even become high achievers. However, we now know that even these children experience deep and lasting emotional trauma. For all children, their parents’ divorce colors their view of the world and relationships for the rest of their lives.
Source:http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/divorce_and_infidelity/should_i_get_a_divorce/how_could_divorce_affect_my_kids.aspx
Please explain to me how providing money for your offspring to survive is robbery.
because in the majority of cases this money goes directly to the mother, who then often spends it on stupid things, for herself. (we can take my own mother for example, who received child support for me and spent the money on drugs and fed me 2 minute noodles for dinner most night)
most of the time it’s not money to “survive” it’s money to make the mothers life comfortable this man, a lawyer, couldn’t pay for his wifes alamony and child support which was MORE THAN HE EVEN EARNED. so she threw him in jail.
where he then had to sign a contract saying he was aware of the risks of sexual assault in prison.
it’s a robbery where the victim gets thrown in jail with no sympathy for being robbed.
In a study of 700 adolescents, researchers found that “compared to families with two natural parents living in the home, adolescents from single-parent families have been found to engage in greater and earlier sexual activity.”
Source: Carol W. Metzler, et al. “The Social Context for Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents”, Journal of Behavioral Medicine 17 (1994).
“Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, suicide, poor educational performance, teen pregnancy, and criminality.”
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Survey on Child Health, Washington, DC, 1993.
“Teenagers living in single-parent households are more likely to abuse alcohol and at an earlier age compared to children reared in two-parent households.”
Source: Terry E. Duncan, Susan C. Duncan and Hyman Hops, “The Effects of Family Cohesiveness and Peer Encouragement on the Development of Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Cohort-Sequential Approach to the Analysis of Longitudinal Data”, Journal of Studies on Alcohol 55 (1994).
“…the absence of the father in the home affects significantly the behavior of adolescents and results in the greater use of alcohol and marijuana.”
Source: Deane Scott Berman “Risk Factors Leading to Adolescent Substance Abuse”, Adolescence 30 (1995)
A study of 156 victims of child sexual abuse found that the majority of the children came from disrupted or single-parent homes; only 31 percent of the children lived with both biological parents. Although stepfamilies make up only about 10 percent of all families, 27 percent of the abused children lived with either a stepfather or the mother’s boyfriend.
Source: Beverly Gomes-Schwartz, Jonathan Horowitz, and Albert P. Cardarelli, “Child Sexual Abuse Victims and Their Treatment”, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justce and Delinquency Prevention.
Researchers in Michigan determined that “49 percent of all child abuse cases are committed by single mothers.”
Source: Joan Ditson and Sharon Shay, “A Study of Child Abuse in Lansing, Michigan”, Child Abuse and Neglect, 8 (1984).
this is why it breaks my heart to see mothers who don’t allow their children to see their fathers.
they have no idea how much damage they are doing.
Today, in my upper level English class, one of my female classmates said that “waiting till marriage for sex is totally doable. girls just need to get married earlier!” Another girl chimed in “yeah! cohabitation is the reason women feel like they can wait till they’re like 30 to get married!” The conversation that ensued some of the most depressing, sex-negative rhetoric that I’ve heard in a while. I need feminism because I want my sisters, friends, and colleagues to know that they don’t have to live their lives in compliance with bullshit sexist norms.
Uh, if your peers want to wait til marriage to have sex, that’s THEIR PERSONAL CHOICE. You know, the whole “their body their choice” thing goes both ways.
And what are you talking about, bullshit sexist norms? Abstinence till marriage is rare these days, not the norm. Silly.
i think saving sex til marriage is a really positive thing. not something i would practice or have practised but i think it is really good if you can manage to pull it off.
most of the time when teenagers have sex with their first boyfriends they are overwhelmed with what they assume is love, but what is actually lust and infatuation. i know i personally waited only a month before having sex with my boyfriend at the time, i felt ready and i don’t regret it but i still think that if i had have waited a little longer i’d have seen his true colours and saved myself a world of grief because after losing my virginity to him i felt compelled to stay with him and have a long term relationship (pipe dreams).
i think that saving sex til marriage promotes long term relationships that aren’t based on infatuation, they are based on partnership and that’s a really healthy thing not only for the individuals in the relationship but for the economy and for their potential future children!
people become infatuated with one another, think they are going to spend the rest of their lives together, get married, have kids and then divorce when the spark goes out. it’s really very destructive. the person who submitted this picture needs to realise that.
When I was 5 years old my mum and dad broke up (they were never married but it still had the same impact), my dad took my mum to court because he wanted to see me more but they favoured my mum (of course) and she got full custody of me. i saw my dad every second weekend and he was eventually allowed to call me for an hour on Wednesday nights… (he also later had to take my mum to court a second time because she was threatening to move interstate with me and not let me see my dad)
My mum didn’t have a job, she and her boyfriend both took drugs and drank far too much and were both violent. My dad had a job and eventually got married to a beautiful, caring woman who loved me like her own daughter. i always had fun whenever i went there and my dad was always supportive, encouraged me creatively, athletically and academically. i look back on my life now and i really wish that the courts weren’t as biased towards women as they are. i wish they had have taken the time to ask me who i wanted to live with or done an evaluation on who was a more fit parent. i am now homeless because i can’t live with my mum because she is violent towards me and i can’t live with my dad because i have such severe anxiety issues that i can’t cope unless i am completely isolated
This has a lot of impact on the economy and i know there are more kids in the world who are just like me. i’ve never met a girl in any of the youth houses i have lived in that said their dad was abusive. (and before you go on and say it’s because they are ashamed of it, stop. Most girls in youth housing are quite open about their struggles especially towards other girls who have had the same struggles. We usually recognize that we can all relate to each other so we often confide in each other) it’s always been that the mother was abusive or took drugs (very rarely the step father), just like in my case.
when a family of three people breaks up, as girlwriteswhat said, you need two houses to support the same amount of people and almost twice the amount of money. divorce rates are at an all time high and this is having a severe impact on the economy and housing and homelessness and literally everything. there are less available houses because there are more single mothers / more single people / homeless children due to family break downs and divorce and this is a serious issue.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t get divorced if you have an abusive husband / wife. but you need to make smart decisions and really think carefully about what you are getting into before you get married. People seem to forget that when you take your wedding vows you are taking an oath to stay with them until you die. Marriage isn’t like second base, it’s a life time commitment and when you divorce someone you have to get a new house and go your separate ways, that house that you move into could house a family of four. That family of four now may not be able to find a house that accommodates them, they may struggle with money and eventually get divorced themselves. No you are not to blame, directly. But your divorce affects society in a big way, collectively anyway.
We always say things like “every drop counts” in Australia in terms of water conservation, we are always trying to encourage people to recycle even small things because it all helps the environment and adds up to the big picture. Divorce is a form of pollution to society and the economy. And we should try to do it as little as possible. Not by staying together even when you just can’t, but by thinking carefully before you start a family, by making smart decisions, by thinking not only of yourself but all of the people you will be inadvertently affecting with your decisions. And ultimately by not taking marriage lightly and by making sure that even through the hard times, the person you are starting a family with is in it for the long run and by making sure that you are too.
