I’ve compiled these statistics about children and divorce for the
“I’ll believe it when I see it” type of people who don’t accept anything as
true unless it’s from a credible source or it’s been PROVEN in a convincing
study.
If you are NOT one of these people, you need
to read this anyway.
These days most people accept divorce as a way of life, completely
unaware of the damage they are doing to their children. Tell your friends,
acquaintances and co-workers to read these shocking statistics about divorce
and children. It may help save a child’s life down the road. (And no, I’m not
figuratively speaking either….just keep reading to find out what I mean.)
The EMOTIONALLY Damaging Statistics about children and divorce
1. Studies
in the early 1980’s showed that children in repeat divorces earned lower grades and their
peers rated them as less
pleasant to be around. (Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage –Harvard
University Press 1981)
2.
Teenagers in single-parent families and in blended families are three times more likely to need
psychological help within a given year. (Peter Hill “Recent Advances in
Selected Aspects of Adolescent Development” Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry 1993)
3. Compared
to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have more psychological problems. (Robert E.
Emery, Marriage, Divorce and Children’s Adjustment” Sage Publications, 1988)
These statistics about
children and divorce are pretty shocking, aren’t they?
The DEATH of a parent is LESS devastating to a child than a
DIVORCE
The PHYSICALLY Damaging
Statistics About Children and Divorce
4. Children of divorce are at a greater
risk to experience injury, asthma, headaches and speech defects than
children whose parents have remained married. (Dawson, “Family Structure and
Children’s Health and Well Being” National Health Interview Survey on Child
Health, Journal of Marriage and the Family)
5.
Following divorce, children are fifty
percent more likely to develop health problems than two parent families.
(Angel, Worobey, “Single Motherhood and Children’s Health”)
6. Children
living with both biological parents are 20
to 35 percent more physically healthy than children from broken homes.
(Dawson, “Family Structure and Children’s Health and Well-being” Journal of
Marriage and the Family)
7. Most
victims of child molestation come
from single-parent households or are the children of drug ring members. (Los Angles Times 16 September 1985 The Garbage
Generation)
8. A Child
in a female-headed home is 10 times more likely to be beaten or murdered. (The Legal Beagle, July 1984, from “The Garbage Generation”)
This is what I mean when I said “these statistics on divorce
and children could save a child’s life someday.” Did you read #12? A child
raised by his/her mother is 10 times
more likely to be
beaten or murdered.
The Long Term Effects and Statistics About Children and Divorce
9. A study
of children six years after a parental marriage breakup revealed that even
after all that time, these children tended to be “lonely, unhappy, anxious and insecure”. (Wallerstein “The Long-Term
Effects of Divorce on Children” Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry 1991)
10. Seventy percent of long-term prison inmates grew up
in broken homes. (Horn, Bush, “Fathers, Marriage and Welfare Reform)
Problems Relating to
Peers
11. Children
of divorce are four times more likely to report
problems with peers and friends than children whose parents have kept their
marriages intact. (Tysse, Burnett, “Moral Dilemmas of Early Adolescents of
Divorced and Intact Families. Journal of Early Adolescence 1993)
12. Children
of divorce, particularly boys, tend to
be more aggressive toward others than those children whose parents did not
divorce. (Emery, “Marriage, Divorce and Children’s Adjustment, 1988)
Suicide Statistics About Children and Divorce
13. People
who come from broken homes are almost
twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who do not come from broken
homes. (Velez-Cohen, “Suicidal Behavior and Ideation in a Community Sample of
Children” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
1988)
High School Drop Out Statistics About Children and Divorce
14. Children
of divorced parents are roughly two
times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who benefit
from living with parents who did not divorce. (McLanahan, Sandefur, “Growing Up
With a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps” Harvard University Press 1994)
