Short and long-term negative effects of parental divorce on children

Abstract

Divorce is a process that is tiring and requires strength for both adults and also children and adolescents. Parents neglect their children involuntarily due to the difficulties of this process. After divorce, individuals who intend to get a divorce may seem like winning or losing parties, but actually, both parties lose. At the end of this process, children are the losing party in any case. This desperate situation caused by divorce prevents children from developing in a healthy way since it disrupts the fundamental structure of the family (Wallerstein / Blakeslee, 1989, p. 35). During this period, children want to show that they are unhappy, they even make an effort for it, but parents push their children into the background since they focus on their own problems and preoccupations (Figdor, 1998, p.20). According to Amato (2000), the following problems are emphasized in the study on negative effects of divorce on children and adults in terms of adjustment: negative communication between parent and child, financial impossibilities, continuation of parent conflicts after divorce, absence of emotional support, absence of resistance. In addition, the following factors are put at forefront so that adults and children can adapt to this new process: for the divorced person to be supported by his/her own family, friends and social environment, to receive expert counselor therapy support.