My blog is on how socioeconomic
status plays a role in the lives of adolescents and parents in divorced
families and how divorce affects them. For the custodial mothers, it becomes
very difficult because they have to work more than one job, have higher rates
of job instability, and move to neighborhoods that are not safe and have bad
schools. It is stated that a mother’s income decreases about 25 to 50 percent
while there is only a 10 percent decrease for male fathers ( Santrock, 2014, p.
288). The consequences for women are five out of six children stay with their
mother after a divorce and so the financial effects of divorce on women and
children are great. Divorce affects women more than men because women tend to
earn less. It is a hard experience for women because one in three who own a
home and have children will lose their homes and there are also women that do
not receive full payment of child support. This could lead to mothers asking
the government for support (Gallagher, 2007, 109).
It is
believed that men are better off financially after a divorce, but it is not
true. They face challenges like if they were used to getting the income of his
ex-wife, well they will have to make up for it. Also, men have to make child
support payments or other payments if he has the full custody of his children.
Also, if the man decides to remarry more than one time and has children with
different women, then the government will take the money from his paycheck and
so the remaining amount of money cannot be enough to make a living and the
father can fall into poverty (Waite, 2011, 111).
Also, the adolescents suffer a lot because
their mother or father cannot buy them all they want because the mother or
father do not have a stable job. If the adolescents are moved to bad schools in
a low income community, there is a higher chance that the adolescent can fall
into drugs, alcoholism, depression, etc. because they are at a low point where
the separation of his/her parents, affects him/her a lot and they have to get
accustomed to living without one of them. According to Children of Divorce by Daniel Shaw, socioeconomic status has been
related to poor school achievement, behavior problems and it was found that
adolescents from divorced parents can be more dependent, noncompliant, and
unpopular among peers. The adolescents can also stop caring about doing well in
school and they might not have any motivation to work hard and do well in
school (p. 1).
Moreover to how it affects
adolescents is that their temperament and personality tend to change because
they have to get accustomed to the father/mother they live with. The
adolescents that are mature and responsible showed less behavioral problems and
were able to cope with their parents’ divorce. Those that had a hard
temperament have a harder time dealing with their parents’ divorce. There could
be adolescents that could think that their parents’ divorce was their fault.
Those that grow without a father tend to start to date younger and look for the
love of their father in the person they date. This could also lead to the
adolescents not wanting to get married when they get older because of the fear
to divorce (Santrock, 2014, p. 287).
I think that like there are good
divorces there are also bad divorces. From experience, my parents are separated
and it did have a huge effect on me while growing up. I remember that I was
afraid that not seeing my father daily would make him forget about me or that
we would never be able to have a close relationship like we did before. I remember that I always felt upset or like I
was not able to be fully happy because my parents were separated. I remember that my mother had a job and she
had to get another one in order to have enough for expenses, rent, food, etc. I
rarely got to see my mother during the day because she was busy at work. I
understood that what she was doing was to support me, but it was hard because I
felt like I did not spend enough time with either of them. Then, as time went
on, I got accustomed to my parents being separated and I think that what helped
me try to work hard in school was that both of my parents still tried to
motivate me to give it my all.
Overall, this demonstrates that
divorce affects families in every aspect, not just emotionally, physically,
mentally, but also economically. Divorce can have negative outcomes because the
parents separate and it definitely has an impact on everyone from the father,
mother, and children. I think that divorce is a tough experience to go through
and so help should be looked for so adolescents can assimilate it and so it can
help them not stay with negative emotions they feel. Also, having a strong open
relationship between the parent and the adolescents is important, so they can
motivate and support each other. This can help adolescents do better in school
and feel like they still have the love and support from both or either parent.
Reference
Page
Gallagher, M. (2014).
Institute for Marriage and Public Policy: Does Divorce Law Affect the Divorce Rate. Retrieved from http://www.marriagedebate.com/pdf/imapp.nofault.divrate.pdf
Santrock, J.W. (2014). Adolescence.
New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shaw, D.S. (1991).
Divorce on Children. Retrieved from
Waite, L. (2005). What are the possible financial consequences
of divorce? Retrieved from
I enjoyed reading your blog, it kept me interested the whole time. Although my parents are still together after 27 years, there was a time where I overheard my parents talking about getting a divorce. They did not know that I was not actually sleeping and I heard every word they said. I was a freshman in high school and when I overheard their conversation, I completely fell apart. I gave up on school completely, I would stop going to basketball practices and games, etc. All I wanted to do was be with my mom. I started thinking about where I would go, would I move to a different city, what parent I would stay with, etc. I knew that if my parents ever got a divorce I would go with my mom, but I knew it would be difficult for her because my dad was always the one bringing home the bigger pay checks; therefore, it would be hard for my mom to provide a home and food for three kids.
ReplyDeleteI think that since five out of six children stay with the mother after a divorce, it is more difficult for the women for the majority. Statistically, women make less money than men; therefore, the women end up hurting because they have to raise kids on their own. Since mothers have to be financially stable, they often have to get more than one job; therefore, like you said kids have less time with their parents and that leads to not getting enough support for the kids to be successful. Your blog provides people with insight about the consequences of getting a divorce, I think many people can relate to this because more and more people in the United States are getting divorced.