Psychology

The relationship between the parents and children is a sensitive and central part of the child and societal success as there is always a war of affection as shaped and explained by development theories and research (Amato, 2000). Therefore, when such concepts as divorce set in, the balance is even further complicated culminating into a spill over of the factors in the childs psychological  development, which in turn affect his or her physical, emotional, and behavioral tendencies, and specialties later on in life. The impact varies depending on the age of the child and the personal innate qualities shaped by acculturation process and surrounding typologies (Clark, 2008). A range of emotions are seen, which may be turned inward or outward in certain cases often resulting in negative effects and negative impacts on the later relationships but sometimes, in rare situations the child in question may behave in a way that may bring forth the re-union of the two parties if supported by both parents friends and the extended family at large.

The impact of divorce on children is extensive especially where the family is of a polygamous nature.  The situation may be complicated as there will be a war of replacement in a quest to prove oneself right e.g. the step parent behaving in a manner likely to suggest that the former or the real parent really misbehaved so as to enslave the children towards their thinking (Duncan, 1999). Whether this is true or rather assisting them to achieve their targets is a bone of contention, but in most cases it back-fires with advancement in a childs age and know how in as far as social issues are concerned.

The moral development of the children is greatly impacted (Eleoff, 2003). The children may be influenced to involve themselves in drug abuse, which will permanently impact on their future life (Eleoff, 2003). Further, the child may find it difficult to settle down later on in the adult life especially in marriage (Clark, 2008).  This happens in situations where the reality or perceived facts have been tilted towards one parent and when there were negative behavior associated with him or her prior to the divorce. When this occurs while the children are in the stage of judging and understanding, divorce can have significant effect to the entire live of children.

Definition
Divorce can be defined as the legal separation between the husband and the wife, which is achieved by the decree or judgment of a court (Amato, 2000). The decree can either dissolve the relationship that exists in marriages or suspend its effects as it relates to the cohabitation of the two parties. Divorce is the process of parting ways of parties in a marriage. It is often accompanied with a change in residence and association in the mainstream duties such as child caring and planning together (Amato, 2000).

In analyzing the effects of divorce therefore, research has aimed at bringing out the what and how factors of development of the child right from infancy to the adult child. As its effects affect children differently and therefore, they are not an end in themselves. Further, it should be understood from the word go that the effects can not be discussed in isolation and therefore does not necessarily mean that divorce affects and brings forth all this consequences to all. It is therefore important to set  demarcations on where certain effects ends and others begin in as far as such factors  as, most importantly, age come to play.

Impacts of Divorce on Children
In earlier life or rather when a divorce happens while the child is young, it has been established that in such, the health of the children is affected (Arasteh  Hetherington, 2001). The children will show signs of physical illness, change in eating and sleeping patterns, bowel problems like diarrhea constipation and spitting, fretful fearful or anxious feelings of abandonment and generally develop a feeling of anger and frustration about life and situations, which will then lead to a condition of unknown worry about situations and impending separation especially when one is out both sight and communication (Arasteh  Hetherington, 2001).

The behavior of the children changes when the parents divorce (Clark, 2008). Misbehavior tendencies may then crop in as the children struggle to find themselves in terms of the norm in the environment they are in. Here, the children will gain a new identity in the so called set goals and purpose for life. At this point, the child may be said to be searching for an ideal environment to fit or to survive in and therefore may take hisher own action plan (Clark, 2008). Feel responsible and improve behavior in a quest to save the situation.

The child will develop into a sense of loss and sorrow. He or she will have both pleasant fantasies and instances of expectant notions of the parent missing coming back or a re-union, or a frightening one characterized by illusions and hallucination type behavior like confrontation with a ghost especially during sleep time (Amato, 2000). This can be said to be the pre-requisite to the lack of sleep especially to grown up children in general as they see and view the world from a different spectrum altogether.

After divorce, the children identify with one parent who tends to be close to them. This is a notion of love and hate which results when the parents separate (Clarke-Stewart  Brentano, 2006). The fear of abandonment resulting from the view-point of blame-game for being the cause of the situation may force the child later on in life to take on an action and take the parents to task of disclosing the real cause of divorce (Clarke-Stewart  Brentano, 2006). This as a result leads to the hate of one parent who might have been the pioneering architect of divorce. The situation usually happens when the parents have never apologized to one another prior to obtaining legal divorce from the court

The children take responsibility and may wish not to see the other parent especially when divorce impacts heavily on their moral development due to one of the parent punishing them at the earlier age or neglecting his or her responsibilities (Arasteh  Hetherington, 2001). The strong negative perception towards one of the parents usually occurs when the other partner is putting a mechanism to reflect the negative perception to the child whether in reality or as a formation. One of the parents may tell the children that the other doesnt care about them leading to a heightened hatred towards one of the parents.

The children feel rejected and the expression and loss moves to an acute level and a routine of fear resulting from the perceived rejection (Duncan, 199). This has a great impact in the future life of children as they will live to know that one of the parents rejected them. They often extend this feeling to the entire society where they hate everything that is presented to them. The negative attitude towards everything that surrounds them lead to a change in behavior and the children become social misfits (Duncan, 1999).

Indulgence to drug and substance abuse may ensue after the children have been abandoned by one of their parents (Amato, 2000). It should be noted that the two parents together contribute to build the morals of the children. Following divorce, the children will miss one of the crucial ingredients which make a critical part in their behavior. At this point in line the situation may have diverse effects including the mounting in stress levels and depressions resulting to crimes, drug abuse, sexual immorality like rape and prostitution, murder or even suicide (Amato, 2000).

The children often have an interrupted process of formal education when the parents divorce. This interruption may be due to the lack of resources, which may result due to the inability of the parent to cater for their educational fee (Eleoff, 2003). In another scenario, the children may reject education and indulge in other activities such as drug abuse (Duncan, 1999). They may not find education to be of any importance after the parents separate. The children whose parents have divorces will lack the moral support from both their parents, which will ensure that they get motivated in life. When moral support lacks, the children will do anything that the other peer members love doing.

The indulgence on drugs become common when there is interplay with other factors such as insufficient resources by either harsh economic times or where the one of the parents decides not to be supportive (Clarke-Stewart  Brentano, 2006).  Harsh treatments and attacks by peers and senior members especially in a manner that clearly shows an insult to the child will make the children choose the path of drug abuse to try and escape from reality (Clarke-Stewart  Brentano, 2006).

Conclusion
It is important to note that divorce has serious consequences to children and need to be handled with a lot of care and concern. If follows that what happens to the children during their early stages of development impacts on their lives as adults (Duncan, 1999). The focus should therefore be concentrated in the securing the future well being of the children, ensuring that the children get proper education and other basic necessities.  To avoid issues of financial constraints, the parents can decide to contribute towards meeting the basic needs of the children such as food and education.