Divorce And Its Effects On Children - 1759 Words

Did you know the U.S Census Bureau found that forty-one percent of marriages end in divorce? Did you also know the divorce rate among couples with children is forty percent lower than couples without children. Sadly according to http://1.usa.gov/1dMPvI2, forty-three percent of children growing up in America today are being raised without their fathers. Seventy-five percent of children with divorced parents live with their mother. Twenty-eight percent of children living with a divorced parent live in a household with an income below the poverty line. Finally, half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of these children, close to half will also see the break up of a parent s second marriage. So how does†¦show more content†¦School achievement also can suffer. Other children become sad for prolonged periods of time. They may become depressed, anxious, or become perhaps overly responsible kids who end up caring for their parents instead of getting cared for by them. A study was done by Lisa Laumann-Billings in 2000, the study s purpose was to report the pain by 99 college students whose parents had divorced at least 3 years previously. Below is the graph of the percentage who reported painful feelings on some of our carefully structured items. In my opinion, this graph makes me sad to see just how much divorce can affect a child even years later. Not only can a divorce strain a child emotionally but, it even affects them financially. â€Å"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.† Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), p. 82 Divorce even affects children in aspects like drugs, alcohol, and premarital sexual intercourse. Robert L. Flewelling and Karl E. Bauman, Family Structure as a Predictor of Initial Substance Use and Sexual Intercourse in Early Adolescence, Journal of Marriage and the Family 52 (1990): 171-181. â€Å"Teens