Divorce, Effects on Children

Consistent with the divorce rate in the United States, about half of all children—representing more than a million children each year—will experience their parents' divorce. This rate is considerably higher in Sweden and lower in the southern region of Europe and Asia. Experiencing a parent's divorce can be stressful for children because the marital discord is often kept secret from them until legal action has taken place, leaving them with little time to cope with the transition of entering into a single-parent family. Additionally, divorce disrupts standard family routines, a child's sense of emotional security that living in a two-parent family provides, and a child's attachment with one or both of his or her parents. Although divorce can potentially be detrimental to a child's well-being, ...