12.6.4: Children of Divorce Divorce is especially hard on children.

 12.6.4: Children of Divorce Divorce is especially hard on children. 

Let’s first see what those negative effects are, then what helps children adjust to divorce. Negative Effects Children whose parents divorce are more likely than children reared by both parents to have behavioral problems, to get poor grades and drop out of high school, and to get in trouble with the law (Amato 2000, 2010; Haimi and Lerner 2016; Pratt et al. 2019). They are also more likely to divorce, perpetuating a marriage–divorce cycle (D’Onofrio et al. 2019). These negative effects are more common for children in poverty (Mandemakers and Kalmijn 2014). Is the greater maladjustment of the children of divorce a serious problem? This question initiated a lively debate between two psychologists. Judith Wallerstein claims that divorce scars children, making them depressed and leaving them with insecurities that follow them into adulthood (Wallerstein et al. 2001). Mavis Hetherington replies that 75 to 80 percent of children of divorce function as well as children who are reared by both of their parents (Hetherington and Kelly 2003). Without meaning to weigh in on either side of this debate, it doesn’t seem to be a simple case of the glass being half-empty or half-full. If 75 to 80 percent of children of divorce don’t suffer long-term harm, this leaves one-fourth to one-fifth who do. Any way you look at it, one-fourth or one-fifth of a million children each year is a lot of kids who are having a lot of problems.