Relationship Between Marital Conflict And Children 's Peer Relationships

Divorce causes many problems for children and has many implications. Psychological implications include mental health problems and behavioral problems. Social roles are turned inside out and upside down. Children are often pulled in many directions. In the United States divorce is very common and often leaves children confused and without options. Many turn toward violence, crime, drugs, and isolation. Studies show how adults can reduce the tension for these children. Other

The key research question in this study is what are the long term effects of parental divorce on a child’s relationship between their parents and their siblings? They took into consideration variables such as age of divorce, gender, and living arrangements so they can see what influence they may have on the present study results and compare it with previous studies. They gave 3 different surveys to 102 students with married parents and 107 students with divorced parents to be able to observe the differences in relationships between the two types of families. Some of the key findings of this study are that females actually have better adult relationships with their siblings and that divorce caused the children to have better relationships with their mother, and worse relationships with their father. They noted that the age when their parents got divorced was not a variable that affected whether or not they had a good relationship with their siblings. For the relationship between their mothers, it was better unless there was a variable of pre-divorce or post-divorce conflict between them. For their fathers, it showed that daughters had worse relationships with their fathers compared to sons. Living arrangements showed effects for both of the parents depending on which parent they lived with. When it comes to remarriage, it had a positive affect on mother-child relationship when the father got remarried and no affect when the mother was remarried.

Amato, Paul R, and Alan Booth. “A Prospective Study of Divorce and Parent-Child Relationships.” Journal of Marriage and Family 58.2 (1996): 356–365. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

Adult male children who reported that their father was unfaithful were “more likely to have engaged in infidelity themselves” (391), This indicates that their father’s infidelity might have normalized extramarital affairs. The sons were influenced by their father's’ actions even into their adulthood. Additionally, young adults who grew up in high conflict married parent households were more likely to drop out of high school, getting bad grades, smoking, and binge drinking (Musick and Meier 824). The conflict within the home distracts the children from school and causes them to seek comfort in substances such as cigarettes and alcohol. I am Eritrean and in my culture there is a stigma surrounding divorce.

Amato, Paul R., and Bruce Keith. "Parental Divorce and the Well-Being of Children: A Meta-Analysis." Journal of Marriage and the Family 110.1 (1991): 26-46. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

At the end of the study, the children were divided into two groups; those whose parents had divorced and those whose parents had stayed together. As expected, the children whose parents had divorced showed more behavior problems and scored lower on reading and mathematics tests than did the children whose parents were still married. But when the researcher looked back at records from the beginning of the study, they found that the children whose parents would later divorce already showed more problems. This suggests that conflict between parents and the process of divorce affects children before parents actually split up. Psychologists Judith Wallerstein and Joan Kelly conducted an in-depth study of 131 children from 60 families in which the parents had recently divorced(J. B. Kelly and Wallerstein, 1976;J. S. Wallerstein and Kelly, 1976).

Have you ever wondered how divorce affects children and their coping process when they only have one full-time parent? Divorce is a significant stressor for a child when growing up and it can cause certain mental health problems for them. Most often the child would stay with the mother and therefore making her the full time parent. Due to divorce, sometimes the way the child is disciplined or the quality of care changes for the child, therefore the child needs to cope with this new change. So the question is whether “intervention-induced changes in mother-child relationship quality and discipline led to short term and long term changes in children’s coping processes?” (Pg. 244, Velez, Wolchik, Tein, & Sandler, 2011) This question brought about

Many children will adjust to their parents ' divorce, but some will continue to have significant problems into adulthood. Parents ' sensitivity to their child 's needs is one of the most important factors in facilitating adjustment. Other factors such as the child 's age, gender and temperament will also influence how well the child adjusts. Preschoolers tend to be "emotionally needy," have fears related to abandonment, and may display acting-out behaviors following their parents ' divorce or separation. Preschooler are likely to become very distressed during visit exchanges. Boys and girls tend to react differently to their parents ' divorce. As a rule, girls tend to become anxious and withdrawn, while boys tend to become more aggressive and disobedient. Girls from divorced families may become sexually active earlier than girls from intact families. Interestingly, boys often adjust better when their mothers remarry, while girls have more difficulty. Children of divorced families tend to have long-term adjustment difficulties when there is ongoing conflict between their parents. Boys are likely to display marked behavior problems when this exists. Children 's adjustment is also determined by the amount of conflict the parents had before the divorce. Researchers have found that children in divorced families, where there is little conflict following the divorce, do not differ in adjustment than children from low conflict intact

However, this is not the reality of our times. McConville (2013) states 41-50% of first marriages end in divorce in the United States. The affect the divorce has on the child is dictated by how the parents maneuver through the transition. Potter (2010) states that elementary and high school students both display poorer psychosocial well-being versus children from non-divorced families (pg. 933). Adolescents face many struggles and challenges throughout this developmental stage. Being a child of divorced parents can heighten stress and anxiety leading to depressive symptoms. To avoid and or decrease this instance, adolescents affected by divorce can benefit heavily through group counseling with others facing identical

When the supposed parent doesn’t give enough attention to the kids, such kids are prone to violent attitude. Even, some parent practically exposed to their kids to violence indirectly. An example is when a parent takes an underage for a gun show. Of course, such kids would want to use it one day. Parents who engage in domestic violence always have a negative impact on the kids. According to a research (Harold & Sellers, 2018), “Interparental quality is regarded as a major determinant factor in the life of a child and adolescent psychopathology. Recent research has highlighted that children are affected by attributes of interparental conflict, specifically how parents express and manage conflicts in their relationship, across a continuum of expressed severity and negativity – ranging from silence to violence.” The article further reveals evidences that children's emotional, behavioral, social, academic outcomes, and future interpersonal relationships are adversely affected by conflict between parents either divorced or still living together. The research article is based on Historical and it is a clinically oriented. Some parents believe that parenting has a duration, therefore, once their children attain a certain age little or no correction is required from them. Good parenting does not have a duration, rather, it is a continuous

“Since 1972, more than a million youngsters have been involved in a divorce each year” (Zinsmeister). When one reviews the countless ways that divorce affects children, this statistic becomes overwhelmingly depressing. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. How did society get to this point? Divorce has become so normalized in the culture today that many people do not even realize the harm that divorce is causing children on a daily basis. Even what most people would consider to be the least harmful divorce situation possible is typically still wreaking havoc on a child’s life. Studies done by sociologists have found that divorced couples describe being happier and more satisfied than individuals who stayed in unhappy or failing marriages (Issitt). However, what these researchers fail to realize is that the children in these families are being negatively affected by their parent’s actions. A recent study showed that “As many as 25 percent of teens whose parents divorce end up depressed or abuse dangerous substances” (Gallup). Parents need to grasp the fact that their happiness is not the only important factor to consider in situations of divorce. The child’s emotional, physical, and psychological wellbeing is at stake when a couple decides to divorce. Divorce often negatively affects children by causing emotional trauma and guilt, behavioral changes, financial difficulties, and eventually problematic future

The rapid epidemic of divorce in the United States within the last 20 years has affected more than one half of the families in the United States. In the past, we have viewed divorce as a short term crisis and not as a longitudinal view of the effects divorce might bring. Divorce does affect children. However, it is not the divorce that is the problem; it is the ongoing conflict between the parents and the child’s coping mechanisms in their own stages of development. Counseling, family therapy, and also having a divorce mediation are all successful ways of coping with the family.

Conflicts which lead to unresolved issues can influence the quality of the marriage. Although several research was made on marital relationships, the factors which influence the arising of continuous conflicts are still not clear. Unresolved issues are problems which are continuously brought up in a marriage. However, marital conflicts are not the only source of unresolved issues in a relationship. Unresolved conflicts within the marriage can affect the longevity and quality of the marriage, but personal background and individual trauma contribute to marital problems more often than conflicts within the marriage. In fact, marital conflicts are usually started because of personal unresolved issues. If a person develops a behavioral property

Children need intact families to flourish. It is hard to imagine that if the family is torn apart, a child can simply adjust to a new situation, home, step-parent, siblings, and entire change of life as they know it without suffering significant effects upon their mental health and development lacks. Despite voices that serve to minimize the effects of divorce on children, this paper will show that the negative effects upon their mental health and development are such that the best solution is to avoid divorce all together. According to Stinson and Jones, “well-being on the road to adulthood for both children and teens hinges on family relationships.”

An opposing viewpoint contradicts my perspectives on the detrimental impacts divorce poses for children and adolescents in particular. Certain theories suggest that divorce is necessary and beneficial in providing relief to children who experience negativity and depression as a result of conflict within the family unit. This argument maintains that divorce does not harm children, who in fact engage in delinquent acts whilst cohabiting with their struggling parents in a violent atmosphere.