Adolescents may speak up that parent’s divorce does not affect them since they are a big guy. The fact is divorce affects adolescent as much as it affects younger children. They may have better understanding related to the relationship but in a certain moment, they also feel angry, confused, and lost due to the divorce. The adolescent is the beginning in making a decision that will impact their lives in the present and future. They start to worry about lots of things such as college tuition, social life, and even dealing with sexuality. Here is how divorce will affect adolescent.
Resentment towards parents
Long before the divorce, adolescents have already faced trauma such as parent’s bitter argument, mistreating each other, and the like. This series of acts causes emotional blow for adolescents. They start to show anger and hatred toward parents. They may also blame one or both parents whom they think responsible for the family breakdown. Moreover, the parents who receive the child’s custody may also feel the effect of adolescent’s resentment.
Dependency on friends
When an adolescent does not feel safe and love at home, they will start spending long hours outside the home. They seek the love and safe feeling from friends. During this time, they will heavily depend on friends and even random people around them. The peer influence is very strong and chances of adolescents going the wrong path are indeed very high.
Early sexual activities
Still, in the relation of seeking love and security, adolescents may seek such feeling outside the house. The adolescent time is also the moment when they start developing romantic and love relationship. But adolescent whose parents is going through a divorce may develop early sexual activities as their attempt to get a happy family. Girls may have a worse effect on this matter for engaging in early sexual activities. Some children may also have the wrong idea about relationship and marriage. They may refuse to get married in future and do the same hurtful thing to their children.
Drug abuse, crime, and reckless behavior
Besides early sexual activities, divorce also often leads to drug abuse, crime, and reckless behavior. The wrong path children take due to friends’ influence may make them do something that they would not normally do. They do the reckless behavior in order to vent their anger and frustration. Some children may also think of doing reckless behavior as a way to punish their parent or simply to rebel.
Visitation problem
Adolescent makes visitation agreement becomes a lot more difficult. Most of them will prioritize the social need of friends rather than spending time with the parent. Even though they think of themselves as a big guy, but parent assistance is still crucial. Parent visitation is a good way to show that they still love the children even though they are no longer stay as a married couple. Parents can bring a peer or asking the child’s friend to come along to create a good compromise. Availing the services of the best divorce mediator in town is also recommended. Through this way, an adolescent can appreciate the time with parent without sacrificing their time with friends.
