Effects

Effects on Men and Women

Because women are often forced to rely on their working husbands, the effects of divorce can be much more severe for them. Women are more likely to suffer some of the mental health effects including depression, hostility, denied self-acceptance, decreased relations with others, and an overall 30 percent decline in the standard of living. Men, of the other hand, only experience a 10 percent decline in their standard of living. (Desai)

Effects on Children

 Each year, over 1 million American children suffer the divorce of their parents; moreover, half of the children born this year to parents who are married will see their parents divorce before they turn 18. According to the Federal Reserve Board's 1995 Survey of Consumer Finance, only 42 percent of children aged 14 to 18 live in a "first marriage" family (Fagan). 

Children whose parents are divorced are more likely to be victims of abuse, perform  poorly in reading, spelling, and math, and also more likely to repeat a grade and to have higher drop-out rates and lower rates of college graduation (Fagan). Children with divorced parents have more health problems, behavioral issues, and emotional problems during their lifetimes. The children of divorce are also more likely to get involved in crime and drug abuse, and have a much greater risk of committing suicide than children raised in two-parent homes ("Divorce, Family").

Families with children that were not poor before the divorce see their income drop as much as 50 percent. Almost 50 percent of the parents with children that are going through a divorce move into poverty after the divorce (Fagan).

Effects on Society

Life expectancies for divorced men and women are significantly lower than for married people, and a recent study found those who were unhappy but stay married were more likely to be happy five years later than those who divorced (Desai).  

The health consequences of divorce are so severe that a Yale researcher concluded that “being divorced and a nonsmoker is [only] slightly less dangerous than smoking a pack a day and staying married. For example, after a diagnosis of cancer, married people are most likely to recover, while the divorced are least likely to recover, indicating that the emotional trauma of divorce has a long-term impact on the physical health of the body (Desai).

Even worse is the fact that half of those families will eventually descend below the national poverty line after a divorce. Family church attendance has been shown to decrease dramatically after a divorce occurs. Active participation in a community church organization has been linked to better health and longer, stronger marriages, but with more divorce and less churchgoing, those advantages are nullified.
 

Federal and state governments spend $150 billion per year to subsidize and sustain single-parent families. By contrast, only $150 million is spent to strengthen marriage. Thus, for every $1,000 spent to deal with the effects of Family disintegration, only $1 is spent to prevent that disintegration (Fagan).


Desai, Amy. "The Effects of Divorce." Trouble With. Focus on the Family, 2009.
   Web. 2 Mar. 2012. <http://www.troubledwith.com/Relationships/
   A000000830.cfm?topic=relationships%3A%20divorce>.
“Divorce, Family and Society.” Divorce. Divorce.com, 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
   <http://www.divorce.com/article/divorce-family-and-society>.
Fagan, Patrick, and Robert Rector. "The Effects of Divorce on America." The
   Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 2012. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
   <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2000/06/
   the-effects-of-divorce-on-america>.