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The Effects of Divorce on Adolescents Drug Use

Divorce, which is also known as dissolution of marriage, refers to the legal termination of marriage. It is a complicated process and the law intervenes to solve the issues involved for instance on the custody of children. It is considered as a disruption process that has detrimental effects on all the parties involved. This paper aims at proving that divorce rates actually do affect the rate at which adolescents indulge in drug abuse based on case studies before 1994. According to a survey on child health by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1993 it was established that 'Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, suicide, poor educational performance, teen pregnancy, and criminality'. 'Teenagers living in single-parent households were also more likely to abuse alcohol and at an earlier age compared to children reared in two-parent households' (Terry et al 1994). The separation of parents or rather the disruption of parental marriages tends to have negative effects on the children's emotional state. They could become more anxious as opposed to children in stable families. Such children may require professional assistance to enable them cope with the new state of affairs. Psychiatrists may be sought to make the transition process easier for them. (Coombs R, 1991).

Generally children from disrupted marriages report higher incidence of injury and accidents than those living with their biological parents. (Dominian et al.1991). Their concentration is affected by divorce and it could become minimal and making them more likely to be involved in accidents or injuries and poisoning. In most cases, children from divorced parents may have their education performance negatively affected. They are more likely to exhibit lack of interest in school activities as opposed to those living with both parents. Effects of divorce can be felt both before it actually happened and after it has happened. However negative impact arising from divorce is not necessarily from the pre-divorce conditions. Children from divorced families will have to adjust to the new way of life, situations and feelings, which in most cases is not their wish. People who in their lifetime experience events that are surrounded by high anxiety for instance divorce suffer from various problems especially at the adolescent stage. The adolescence period is critical for children who are working on establishing their role identity. Experiencing depression at this stage may have negative effects up to adult life. It is also noted that children from families where there are higher incidences of conflicts tend to mature faster probably because they may be exposed to complex issues at an earlier stage than those from intact families. (Hope et al. 1998).

Family is a very important agent of socialization that affects how adolescents will behave. It influences the types of friends that they interact with as well as the depth or intensity of the friendship. Parental relationship can therefore be said to have a great impact in determining how adolescents interact or relate with their peers. Adolescents who tend to have fewer friends will be more influenced by their parents, as those from loose bond families will be influenced more on their peers than their parents. Parents also play an important role in determining their adolescents drug use patters as they can influence their peer relationship. (Duncan T et el 1994). Peer relationships have strong relationships on adolescents' drug habits, influencing peer relationship therefore cause a positive impact in minimizing the chances of adolescents' indulgence in drugs. Parents can also determine their young social skills and indirectly reduce their chances of drug use.
Effects of divorce on adolescents varies with gender and boys tend to develop behavioral problems for instance increased aggressiveness and impulsivity than girls. Such children also experience increased anger and frustrations and may blame their parents for the current predicaments. Divorce is associated with financial challenges especially if one parent relied on the other for their upkeep. After the divorce children are forced to have a new lifestyle than that which they had been accustomed to. This may lead them into drug use or abuse as they try to forget their current situation. Children from disrupted families are also more likely to be abused and this could lead to their indulgence to drugs.

Divorce can affect the way children's future relationships would be as they may have high levels of mistrust that can result to divorce or break ups. Divorce may not necessarily lead to adolescent indulgence into drugs especially if the adolescents are made to understand the situation and accept it positively. With the use of professional psychiatrists they may not indulge in drugs. Parents who develop close relationship with their adolescent children after divorce will experience positive effects. They can motivate them to work hard in their academic work and thus be a source of motivation for their improved performance. Mutual relationship with a parent may create a bond where bad peer influence that could result into drug abuse is minimal. Effective monitoring of the progress in their adolescent children would help in yielding positive results in terms of academic excellence.

Feelings that adolescents may feel when their parents divorce include sadness, betrayal, anger and aggression. Their expectations in life may be affected for instance with reduced incomes their education may be affected negatively. (Rutter M and Smith D, 1995). Adjusting to a lower rank social status may not auger well for them and they could experience sleeping disorders. Effective communication is very important in determining the real effects of divorce. It will neutralize the negative effects and make the transition period easier. Parents need to communicate to their adolescent children of the causes as well as the implications of the divorce. They should explain to them of how they may be forced to work for longer periods of time to provide for them. This way, their adolescent children may not be tempted to indulge in drug use. (Barnes G and Moselle A, 1985).

Psychological effects emerge way before the divorce is actually formalized and it would be inappropriate to conclude that divorce caused the problems identified in adolescents when their parents divorce. Underlying factors for instance racial background may have larger impacts on the way adolescents behave after divorce. For instance negative academic performance would lead to indulgence in drugs by a Hispanic adolescent but it would be difficult to establish if the poor performance was due to racial discrimination or divorce effects.

Divorce is an important structural transition in family life. It could make adolescents become psychologically withdrawn and would have lowered self-esteem. Adolescents with a low self-esteem are very vulnerable to drug abuse and alcohol use. Different adolescents react differently to their parents divorce. (Miller P, 1997). The short-term effects tend to vary with long-term effects of divorce on children. If parents divorce at a younger stage the effects could be suppressed and felt at the adolescent stage. Problems that were earlier hidden in early childhood may arise in adolescent for instance interpersonal problems, drug and alcohol use, conduct problems and poor school performance. As one enters into going adulthood the painful childhood memories may arise and cause detrimental effects.

There are however arguments that the effects of divorce on adolescents do not lead directly to serious problems. The specific developmental outcomes and well being of adolescents largely depends on the family dynamics before, during and after the marital disruption. Effects of divorce on children are therefore a complex issue that needs effective or deeper understanding. Structural transitions therefore play a vital role in determining the socio-emotional consequence of adolescents.

The response of parents within divorcing or divorced families determines if the adolescents are to be more or less vulnerable to negative consequences. Important aspects that determine the outcome include personal adjustments to custodial parents. If a positive approach is taken and the adjustment is successful then adolescent children from divorced families may not suffer any negative impact. The extent to which parents maintain effective child rearing practices affects the way adolescents will behave when faced with parental divorce. If parents continue being effective in their duties the children may adjust gracefully to their new predicament and will therefore not be affected by negative consequences of divorce. (Nicholson M et al, 1999). Parents who are depressed about the divorce may indulge in drugs and alcohol use and their adolescent children may follow suit. Again, they may fail in their parental duties precipitating their children to indulge in drugs or other anti-social behaviors.

Another important aspect that would determine how vulnerable adolescents are to negative consequence of divorce like drug use is whether they maintain ties with the non custodial parents, the degree of conflict between the parents as well as the economic hardship arising from divorce. (D. Foxcroft & G. Lowe. 1991). If large effects are felt in terms of economic or financial constraints then adolescents, may be more susceptible to negative consequences like drug use. Indulgence in drugs may be precipitated by the accumulation of other stressful conditions for instance moving into a new home and neighborhood that may not be appealing to the adolescent in question.

Economic losses that arise from divorce may also aggravate the negative consequences of divorce. On the contrary those who move into better conditions and have fewer losses to count may not fall prey of negative effects of divorce. Another important aspect that determines whether an adolescent may experience negative effects of divorce is the adolescent's age – specific abilities as well as their social competence. Custodial parents who in most cases are the mothers may be traumatized by the divorce and experience economic distress. They have additional roles and greater responsibilities before hand and these could make them less efficient in supporting, guiding, monitoring and disciplining their children. Such parents may also have problems in reasoning or becomes less nurturance, more punitive and could engage in frequent coercive exchanges with their young, leading to adolescents’ indulgence in drugs. (Miller P, 1997).

The frequency of conflicts, severity and exposure of parents before the divorce could affect adolescents and lead to developmental problems. If both parents the custodial and non-custodial parents maintain a positive link with the children the negative consequences would be countered. (Randall W, 1999). If they both agree on policies and strategies to deal with their adolescent's chances of indulging in drug use would be countered. Disagreements and lack of commitment by both parents in addressing the adolescent's issues would make them more susceptible to drug use. (Rutter M and Smith D, 1995). The use of external support for instance extended family members or close family friends to act as role models and sources of guidance would counter the negative effects of divorce for instance drug use. Children from divorced families may lack a role model or figure to emulate making them more susceptible to drug use. (Johnson A et al, 1996).




REFERENCES:

Randall W. 1999. An Assessment of the Relationship between Aspects of the Nonresidential Father Role and Nonresidential Father Involvement with Children. Dissertation Abstracts International, A: The Humanities and Social Sciences. 60(5): 1783-A-1784-A.

Eurocare. Families as a cause of alcohol problems. Retrieved on 21st March 2008 from http://www.eurocare.org/projects/familyreport/english/famen_p15.html
Ary V, Duncan E., Duncan C. & Hops H. 1999. Adolescent problem behavior: the influence of parents and peers. Behavior Research and Therapy, 37(3), 217-230.

Nicholson M., Fergusson M. and Horwood J. 1999. Effects on later adjustment of living in a stepfamily during childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 40, 405–416.

Atkins K.1993. Alcohol advertising and adolescents. Adolescent Medicine stale of Arts Reviews.4.527-542.

Barnes M 1990. Impact of family on adolescents drinking patterns. In R. Collins, Leonard E and Searles Eds. Alcohol and the family. Research and Clinical perspectives.
Barnes G and Moselle A.1985.A perspective on adolescents drug use. Advances in alcohol and substance use.

Rutter M and Smith D.1995. Psychosocial Disorders in Young People. John Wiley & Sons
B & P Berger.1983. The War Over the Family. Penguin Books.

Posted by: Anastasia T. Ray

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