NEW YORK, July 25, 2011 (NYDN) – Though many parents fear a divorce may hurt their child psychologically in the long and short term, recent research shows that children can bounce back, and even grow, from experiencing divorce.
As author Joseph Nowinski advises parents in his novel, (The Divorced Child: Strengthening Your Family through the First Three Years of Separation) it is important to focus not on the divorce itself, but on processing and dealing with the change. A goal for parents, he states, is to help children become “resilient.” By three years after divorce, most children do successfully, “appear to have weathered the storm.”[1]
So how does dealing with the short term changes of divorce (such as, for example, different family income or moving households) influence a child’s outlook on life as he or she gets older?
A recent study published in the Journal of Family Issues examines how a parental divorce can impact children over the long-term. The authors of the study used data from the 1995 Survey of Aging, Status, and the Sense of Control to see how divorce affected the socioeconomic status and social relationships of children. The survey looked at 2,592 U.S. respondents who were 18 years of age or older. The authors of the study hoped to reveal how divorce in childhood can impact one’s sense of control in adulthood.
Their data analysis reveals that a parental divorce indirectly relates to a lower sense of control in offspring “through low levels of educational attainments, a lack of volunteer participation, and higher levels of economic hardship.” Even with this indirect influence, the study concludes that parental divorce is a predictor of a higher sense of control.
According to the study, a child of divorce may have a greater sense of control as an adult because a change in family dynamic can encourage a child to reflect on their responsibilities and role in the household. Divorce may also encourage children to search for support and guidance in new relationships with nonfamily members. The experience can provide children with a greater understanding of “the value of self-reliance and independence.”[2]
[1] Joseph Nowinski, “The Divorced Child: Strengthening Your Family Through the First Three Years of Separation,” (United States: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) 3.
[2] Joongbaeck Kim and Hyeyoung Woo, “The Complex Relationship Between Parental Divorce and the Sense of Control.,” Journal of Family Issues, 2011: 1052-1055.