Divorce And Children’s Adjustment in the Post-Divorce Period

Karake Musaja Vincent

Adjustment, Divorce,Post-Divorce Period

Divorce is a traumatic, heart-breaking experience that affects the lives of parents, children, families, relatives and friends. This devastating event affects spouse’s emotional, psychological, and economic stability. It also impacts spouse’s relationship with children, families, relatives, and friends. The objective of this study was to find what the root causes and solutions of conflicts that result to early divorce in Christian families are, the ensuing consequences, and children’s adjustment in the post-divorce period. This article specifically focuses on children’s adjustment in the post-divorce period.

To find the causes and solutions to the problem and what the post-divorce period portends for the children, views on effects of how various conflicts cause or help bring about divorce were taken and compared to results of data from respondents’ answers,critically and synthetically analyzed and interpreted.

In the process to collect data, Qualitative Descriptive research design was used where questionnaire, study guide, and interviews were used to collect data.  Basing on the research objectives, the data collected was coded, analyzed and tabulated.  The data, being answers from the 85 respondents involved in the study, was then interpreted.

The findings showed that among the major causes of divorce are: infidelity, sexuality difficulties among couples, drug abuse, incompatibility, economic status of the family, poor communication, and work-holism. Counselling, it was found out, had the effect of reducing slowly, the effects of the causes that brought divorce and in some cases to stop divorce. Counselling was found too to reduce the pain and the problems that children of divorce went through whether under single parent or where the custodial parent was remarried. The couple should always remember that forgiveness and respect to each other, even without professional Counselling, will go a long way towards fighting the spirit of divorce. It is recommended that the couple always work towards establishing and maintaining good marital relationship.  Lastly, the couple should be aware of the help that God will render to them, being strengthened to forgive and to practise the teachings got through Counselling.