The Effects of a Broken Family to a Child's Development

A broken family is believed to be the cause of child’s mislead in life. Some people think that, the reason why some children behave so rashly, indifferently, or become rebellious against their parents is due to having a parent who is divorced or separated. Which is also one of the factors that greatly affect the child’s development on education, and may cause social, emotional, and even relational issues for children, and adolescent teens.  

On the emotional aspect a broken family may affect a child’s development is when after the parents’ divorce, the child can harbour strong negative feelings or resentment against their parents. While older children may seem to show less negative emotional effect from the separation of their parents. It is not actually a good thing because they are most likely to bottle up their feelings. This emotional suppression causes an emotional deficit to children. And the result may be depression or poor emotional stability of a child.

If a child is emotionally unstable, this will also affect the child’s social life and education. Because in order for a child to develop a good social life and be able to focus on his/her education, the child must develop a good emotional stability. If a child is emotionally stressed, it can stunt a child’s academic progress and will contribute to a poor educational performance. Which can also lead to more problems in the future and these problems often develop over time as the child grows up. The common problems are children being pushed to drugs, pre-marital sex, and violence.

Children with less emotional stability may also develop a personality which is cynical, introverted, or close-minded. Of course in developing a social life, children must open up to other children to play or communicate. But having a broken family can cause a child to have trust issues. Having trust issues makes it more difficult for a child to open up to others and make friends because the child is unable to be obsolete to another person. Since everyone is born as relational beings, having no friends or a social life can be very lonely. And even as a child, people who are experiencing loneliness are more prone to commit crimes and suicide.

Therefore a broken-family is large factor that will greatly affect a child’s life. As a child, having a broken-family is difficult to deal with especially during his/her crucial years in development. Through the years while the child is growing up, problems will continue to suffice and arouse more problems to come. Children are not supposed to be dealing with huge problems, because whilst young they need more support from both of their parents, instead of children having to suffer for their own parents’ problem. That is why parents should be well-aware in considering the psychological effects of their actions to their children.