The Effects of Divorce on Children What do people expect in a marriage? In today's modern world, many people find the fulfillment of a relationship through friendships, cohabitation, and work colleagues, which eventually could lead to a marriage where both couples have expectations, hopes, and dreams. Marriage is the beginning of a new chapter in life. It is a union between two people who have the objective to have a family and companionship. Marriage is where decisions about finances, relationships and child-rearing, and many other issues are repeatedly made. Expectations of equality in roles and responsibilities are seldom released, especially after a child is born. In all marriages, there must be a building block that consists of mutual understanding, respect, trust, and commitment. These building blocks would lead to a strong marriage and a happy family (Plunkett). However, in today's society, most marriages tend to lack the building blocks as people tend not to look at the significance of having these blocks in their marriages. Therefore, this results in an increasing number of divorces. The top ten most divorced nations are starting off with the highest, which is Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Czech Republic, Spain, Luxembourg, Estonia, Cuba, France, and then The United States of America (Plunkett) . Cases of divorce have long existed, and due to the growing trend, it has detrimental repercussions to a child's growth. The divorce of parents affects children in many aspects of their life, such as the lacking in their academic performance, losing interest in education, becoming emotionally damaged, psychological problems, health issues, destroying their relationship with other family members and friends, giving regressive and aggressive manners towards other people and also becoming rebellious.
The aftermath of divorce cases on children who are students almost inevitably disrupts the education process. The fueling factors behind a halt in academic performance include declining interest in studies and a decrease in-class participation. A child's focus on his or her education slowly fades as a result of being unsettled and bugged by the parents' disunion because a divorce case is often overwhelming to a child. This has been proven by the article "Divorce's Toll on Children" by Karl Zinsmeister; children are less imaginative, more repetitive, and passive watchers; they tend to be more dependent, demanding, unaffectionate, and disobedient than children from intact families because they tend to carry all their problems to school with them. When parents separate from each other, a child is left with many unanswered questions. The focus of a child is slowly diverted to the divorce, not only thinking long and hard about what caused it or ways they could help undo it, but also on getting used to having a split family. (Clair). As their focus on academics and studies gradually decreases, students tend to be more passive in class as what is being tau...
