Divorce: Divorce and Parents Essay

Submitted By m3lissa18
Words: 1858
Pages: 8

Effects of Divorce
Melissa Moore
University of Illinois at Chicago

Introduction: “Children with divorced parents often suffer emotional scars that last a lifetime and have trouble with their own intimate relationships as adults.” I read this statement and I immediately thought about myself. The divorce rate is now that 50 percent of marriages fail, divorce is something that has become common nowadays (Patrick Parkinson, 2001).” Divorce doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal today, we can find it pretty much anywhere. From celebrity divorces to shows like “Divorce Court”, the media really shows how it has become a part of being an American. The way it is portrayed leaves a blindside to the real lasting problems it leaves on people. For that reason I chose to do my paper on how divorce effects young adults. Being someone whose parents went through a rough divorce and having it effect me made me curious to how others react. The way it is portrayed leaves a blindside to the real lasting problems it leaves on people. Furthermore, I decided to take it upon myself to interview a few associates of mine whose parents have also been divorces and also those whose parents are still together. My goal was to find out what the different effects, if any, of those whose parents split. I wanted to see if their views on marriage have changed, if they still remember the things that went on during that time, or how they deal with it today.
After interviewing four different people I learned the way people view divorce can be very different. This mostly depends on what their family has raised them to believe. It tends to be the people whose parents are still together (as the person interviewed is now in college) has very strong beliefs that divorce is something devastating and should not be done. While on the other hand people’s parents who have been divorced feel that it can be something beneficial to the young children of the adults. There are two ways young people can be effected; in a positive way or in a negative way. Positive ways are less common but I found out when they do happen the divorce has helped in a great way. Sometimes people look at divorce in the wrong way, sometimes it is better for families because it not only separates two people who no longer love each other but it can separate the violence as well. It puts an end to more new memories kids will never be able to get rid of when they are older. Negative effects are much greater and more common. The psychological part has a great influence on ones future. Many times the child would feel like they have to choose which parent they are going to side with. They also may feel like it somehow was there fault. Depending on the marriage the child could have witnessed abuse. Many times that is a reason a couple will get a divorce due to physical abuse. So is the abuse even worse during the divorce? Many times when a child grows up seeing that they grow up to do the same or they grow and have anger inside of them. Nevertheless divorce seems to either play a good or bad role in someone’s life.
Participants:
The participants I chose to do were four different people from. Two of them are friends and another two are from the fraternity I am part of. There were two guys and two girls that were available and willing to do an interview. I was able to get a closer look at how their experience of their parent’s marriage was. Two of them had parents that got a divorce and two of them did not. Daniel C. Daniel is someone I met a year ago as a stranger and today he is like a brother to me. He is one of the older friends I have and has a philosophical view on things. He is someone whose parents were divorced. They separated when he was eight but they got divorced when he was ten. He stated that the divorce of his parents had a negative effect on him at the time. He remembers when he was a kid and his parents where no longer together being embarrassed