Divorce can oftentimes be a painful, and lengthy process that most people never want to experience for themselves. The long hours and days in courtrooms and the money poured into getting through this system feels draining and never-ending, but really this is just the beginning of possible years of more drama. The divorce process may seem to be the worst part, but the after effects can be much more grueling, especially when there are children involved. The following literature review sets out to view the impact of divorce on mothers and fathers, economic consequences, custody of the children, and impact on the children.
Impact on Mothers and Fathers
There was once a time when divorce was almost unheard of, and even the thought of it seemed like a crime. Researchers noticed a 5% increase in divorce rates in the 19th century, and in more recent years it has reached an alarming high of almost 50% (Amato, 2000). Now the question many want to know the answer to is if divorce has a greater impact on men or women. A study conducted in California, using 52 middle-class divorced families over a ten-year period showed a psychological difference between men and women during the time following divorce (Wallersterin, 1986). After interviewing these divorced couples in the family after the ten year period, the results have had quite opposite to what most people would believe. Women had overcome the hardships of divorce more smoothly than men did; two-thirds of women (64%) were able to significantly improve their psychological well-being, while 72% of men remained in the same state after divorce despite there being a ten year period to improve. Further assessment showed that 55% of women had improved the quality of their lives while only a small percentage (32%) of men had improved quality. These findings show that divorce leads to noteable and normally positive psychological change and growth in women, but not so much among men (Wallersterin, 1986). Further studies show just how much divorced fathers stuffer in comparison to fathers of any other situation and also mothers. Statistics on divorced fathers show that they are not very involved parents and usually do not pay the standard child support, if at all (Umberson & Williams, 1993). Following divorce, many men take part in health-compromising behavior and can often be suicidal. Researchers believe this is because fathers no longer have the mother there to facilitate father-child interaction, and taking care of their child alone (even only part-time) can be hard for the father to manage. The study that was conducted to find if divorce was positively correlated with parental role strain for fathers was done through face-to-face interviews. The participants ranged from 24 years of age and older, with 155 divorced men and 812 married men who have children, 67% of all participants gave useable responses. Using three key questions, researchers found that men who are divorced do indeed experience higher parental role strain, especially for fathers with adult children. Further interviews show this strain comes from a couple of factors; (1) the relationship with their ex-spouse, and (2) the new relationships and identities the father may form following divorce . Fathers not keeping in proper contact with their children because of disputes with their ex or because of a possible change in personality can cause a lot of negativity in the father-child relationship. The lack of involvement causes further strain on their role as a parent, and can lead to an array of mental health problems (Umberson & Williams, 1993). Although women normally cope better with the psychological after effects of divorce than men do, there are still other factors (such as finances), that could possibly put women in a bad position.
Economic Consequences
There are a number of factors as to why divorce rates have dropped so severely, many of them centre around economics (Amato, 2000). Women have a lot of independence in terms of economics, while men’s lack of significant schooling have reduced the amount of earnings they receive from employers (Amato, 2000). While these may be some reasons why divorce takes place, the after effects of these decisions often have more impact on one spouse as oppose to the other, especially when children are involved. Earlier in the paper it was mentioned that women would ultimately excel after divorce, but this only applied to psychological and overall well-being and only sometimes involved children (Wallersterin, 1986). Once children are thrown into the mix, it is possible for the consequences, especially economically, to be much worse. A Canadian study that used data from the Longitudinal Administrative Database provides useful empirical data for understanding the effects of divorce on men and women’s economic well-being (Finnie, 1993). It is shown that women’s economic well-being is much lower than a man’s following divorce. A study conducted by Hoffman and Holmes, used the Survey of Income Dynamics to compare total family income, to income-to-needs ratios in the years following divorce. This was conducted between the years of 1969 to 1975 and used data from 349 women and 250 men. The results of the study indicated that on average, men do indeed experience a drop in income but quickly recover on their own, while women experience an income drop of 30% and even at the five year mark, do not return back to the same levels as they were before the divorce. However, women who have decided to remarry after the divorce obtain their economic status back to normal rather quickly (Finnie, 1993). The lack of consistent and reliable child support payments contributes to the economic downfall women experience during this time (Espenshade, 1979). A study that started in 1968 and ended in 1974 was conducting using a sample survey of about 5,000 American families. The study used the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics data to obtain the sample. The women in this study had reduction in living standards of about 6.7 percent during the time period the study was conducted, while men had an increase of 16.5% gain. This is a reflection of the fact that women more times than less take the responsibility of the children after divorce, and have to rely on the fathers for child support payments which they often “fail to compensate fully for the costs of child care” (Espenshade, 1979). Despite the lack of support from their spouses, women often look for other resources to compensate for this economic downfall. For instance, many women are now utilizing welfare which is normally given to women that have low-income (Duncan, & Hoffman, 1985). While government assistance seems like a suitable fix, some studies suggest that it is not the ideal form of income. After being on welfare for a two-year period, mothers are expected to work, unless they have a disability that enables them not to (Edin & Lein, 1997). About 60% of mothers are able to leave welfare programs and find jobs, however over half of them returned to welfare once again; most times because of their low levels of experience (Edin & Lein, 1997). Remarriage is also a way in which women can re-establish their wealth. One study found that women who remarry are overall more involved in the day to day finances with their new spouse (Dolan, Eeden-Moorefield, Engel, & Pasley, 2007). 74% of couples used a method referred to as “pooling”, which means that both spouses are equally involved in the financial decisions and management. In these new marriages, women now had “higher levels of financial security”, thus putting them back on their feet after a gruelling struggle after divorce (Dolan, & et al., 2007).
Custody Battle
More times than less, full custody of a child after divorce normally goes to the mother. While this may work for some families, others may want to exercise their right of having many joint custody. Joint custody is relatively a new concept, many mental health professional and others find this can be a major issue for children (Abarbanel, 1979). A case study used four families to see how shared parenting can impact the child, and find out if this is a useful alternative. Researchers selected this group by only using families that would make sure the children see the other spouse within the timeframe of two weeks, and the division of child-case responsibility was 50/50 to 67/33. The measures in this study were interviews, informal observation, and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. The results indicate that all children in the study responded appropriately to the separation of their parents; at first experiencing much anger and sadness, but overtime being able to adapt to their new reality. The study suggests that children do well with the shifting from one parent home to the other as long as there is not too much of a differences at each house. Children need a certain level of consistency, like a standard routine both parents follow, to function with this kind of back and forth. The joint custody in this study worked out positively because the parents were both committed to the arrangements, they supported each other, shared equal responsibility, and had the same rule system at both homes (Abarbanel, 1979). In contrast, some have argued that joint custody enables children from living in a stable environment, and subjects the children to parental conflicts (Pearson & Thoennes, 1990). After some research on these concerns, it was found that people who decide to participate in joint custody are high educated and usually accumulate more money annually. These factors prevented parents from engaging in conflict with each other because there was no reliance on obtaining money from the other. On the other hand, people who fall more in the low-middle-class area, can sometimes experience these issue because they experience one partner not putting in the same effort as the other (Pearson & Thoennes, 1990). Sole-custody has always been the prefered method for courts when deciding who gets primary care of children (Bauserman, 2002). A study conducted using a sample size of 1,846 sole-custody children and 814 joint-custody children, and the measures used were general, behavioural and emotional adjustment. It was found that joint-custody children scored higher on the adjustment scales than sole-custody children. Joint custody groups seem to have adjusted better to their circumstances because their routines were very minimally altered and they still got to spend equal amount of time with both parents. Sole-custody children spend time mainly with the mother, and the father either does not make a solid effort to be involved or the mother only allows weekend visits (Bauserman, 2002). This can negatively affect the child because they may want a more bonded connection with their fathers, and not being able to obtain that because of lack of effort on both ends accounts for future psychological issues, such as abandonment (Bauserman, 2002). In brief, even though many people do not like the idea of joint custody, studies have shown it has a better effect on the child’s overall health.
Impact on Children
The overall psychological and behavioral effects divorce has on children can be huge. It may go unnoticed by the parents, but the child suffers the most during this heart-rendering time. Previous studies show that children of divorced parents experience more negative emotions such as aggression, distancing behavior, depression and insecurity (Feldhaus & Heintz-Martin, 2015). An alarming number of children of divorced parents may encounter psychological and social difficulties, especially at a younger age. Parents who engage in argumentative behavior in front of their children even after the divorce process is over, put the child at risk for antisocial behavior, and lower levels of intimacy; thus leading them to cohabit at a younger age but may take longer to commit to marriage (Feldhaus & Heintz-Martin, 2015). A nation-wide study conducted in the United States examines how age and sex contribute to the child’s adjustment to divorce (Allison & Furstenberg, 1989). The study used a sample of 1,377 children and had them answer questionnaires and go through personal interviews which centers around adjustment, parent-child relations and family background. The measures used for this study was multiple-item scale to measure aspects of the children’s well-being. The results show that overall, children who experience marital dissolution do not overcome this obstacle lightly. Contrary to popular belief, girls are typically more affected by the divorce than boys are; girls showed more behavioral problems, distress and dissatisfaction. However, if remarriage of the mother does not occur, boys are affected more negatively. Another factor found in this study was that, as mentioned earlier in the text, younger children are more affected by divorce, mainly at the preschooler age (Allison & Furstenberg, 1989). As the years go on, some children eventually adjust to this drastic change in their lives, but others grow up with a lower quality of psychological well-being due to the aftermath of the divorce. A study using longitudinal data from the national Survey of Children examined young adults from ages 18 to 22 years old from divorced families (Corior, Morrison, & Zill, 1993). The study found that after divorce, 30% of young adults had poor relationships with their mother, and two thirds of young adults and bad relationships with their father. The negative relationship with their father was usually a product of him already being absent during the marriage (Corior, Morrison, & Zill, 1993). A sizeable portion of youth in this study received psychological help at some point in time to deal with this stress because they exhibited high levels of emotional problems. While many negative factors are outlined in this article, the results also indicate that eventually the young adults fall into the same category of individuals who cope well with this change in their lives (Coiro, Morrison, & Zill, 1993). Twenty years after their parents divorce, 173 grown children were interviewed (Ahrons, 2007). The researcher used a 13 item scale to determine how each person had coped, and what types of conflict they may have undergone. The results suggest that the a positive relationship with their parents (and the relationship both parents maintain with each other) after the divorce process made for smoother adjustment over the years. Although adult children whose parents had ongoing conflict over the years expressed high levels of stress, especially when it came time for holidays, and birthday parties (Ahrons, 2007).