Teen Stress by Nicole Neda Zamanzadeh

Author:Nicole Neda Zamanzadeh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

26. How can parental divorce or separation create teen stress?

Parental or caregiver divorce or separation creates teen stress because teenagers experience less safety in their homes, lose the freedom to be a teenager, and potentially feel that they will lose a source of support. Thus, divorces’ and separations’ effect on teen stress is complicated. It is often not the divorce itself that is most hurtful but rather the communication that surrounds the divorce and the relationships of the teen with their family members.

According to the CDC, a little less than half of marriages end in divorce in any year. This statistic has remained stable over the course of the last five years. Yet, originally, as divorce was increasing, it created a debate as to whether divorce is harmful for children and whether parents should stay together for the benefit of their children. Divorce and separation can both be outcomes of degrading relationships between parents or caregivers. However, they are distinct. Divorce occurs after there has been a strong commitment within the parental relationship: a marriage. However, birth parents may be separated because they had a child without the desire to be married and may have ended that romantic relationship. Parents may also remain married but separated.

There are many concerns about how a divorce or separation might affect the children within a family. There are often emotional, financial, and social consequences for the family. Many avoid divorce as a means to protect a child’s or teen’s well-being, by preserving a stable source of income in the family. Divorced women often struggle financially. Moreover, divorces require legal agreements about the custody of the children. Children, including teenagers, may be put in the position of choosing which parent they believe is more suited as a caretaker. Others may not have a choice or may find themselves in the middle of a fight between two parents. This causes their relationship with each parent to degrade. Sometimes, these teenagers are essentially forced into adulthood at an early age after gaining insight into the problems their parents face. These aspects of a divorce can be damaging to teens’ mental and physical well-being.

Although divorce can be a catalyst for these issues, not all divorces are the same, and this does not mean that remaining married is better for a child. The pains of a divorce can be healed if the relationships between parents and children are maintained and stable. Therefore, it is more important to look at the communication between parents and teenagers to understand whether the challenges of divorce will likely be harmful to teenagers and whether teens can recover from this challenge or even thrive afterward. In fact, researchers have found that it is principally parents’ inappropriate sharing that is psychologically stressful for teens. Teens experience a greater challenge when parents tell their children about the problems in their marriage or negative thoughts about one another. This is especially harmful if the teens are also exposed to frequent parental conflict or arguments. Parents who often

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