What Wallerstein found showed that the children suffered from many problems later in their.
lives, problems which can probably be attributed to their parents' divorces: .
"Five years after divorce more than a third of the children experienced moderate or severe.
depression. At ten years a significant number of the now young men and women appeared to be.
troubled, drifting, and underachieving. At fifteen years many of the thirtyish adults were.
struggling to establish strong love relationships of their own. In short, far from recovering from.
their parents' divorce, a significant percentage of these grownups were still suffering from its.
effects. In fact, according to Wallerstein, the long-term effects of divorce emerge at a time when.
young adults are trying to make their own decisions about love, marriage and family. Not all the.
children in the study suffered negative consequences. But Wallerstein's research presents a.
sobering picture of divorce. 'The child of divorce faces many additional psychological burdens in.
addition to the normative tasks of growing up,' she says." .
I could go on and on. The point that the essay drives home, though, is that children from.
single-parent families suffer many more problems in their later lives than children from.
two-parent families, and that this is true even when the children do not live in poverty. The most.
significant psychological problem for children of divorce seems to be a great difficulty in forming.
personal relationships, and tends to appear only later in life. And, of course, not all children from.
single-parent families have such problems, and not all children from two-parent families don't. In.
general, though, children from two-parent families do much better. .
I can't speak for you or your children, but I don't think that most kids feel "priceless" when one.
of their parents decides to leave them, or places his or her own well-being and happiness over.
theirs. And though that may not be the truth, that is how it will appear to a young person.
