Effects Of Divorce On Society Essay Research

Effects Of Divorce On Society Essay, Research Paper

Effects of Divorce on Society

Increased youth crime rate is caused largely by absent fathers

as a result of divorce made too easy. Consider this chilling forecast.

When we pass the year 2000, we will see two groups of working age

adults emerging. One group will have received psychological, social,

economic, educational and moral benefits and the other group will have

been denied them all. The first group will have grown up with a father

present in the house and the second group will have not had a father

present. The groups will be roughly equal in size. In order to be

divorced in my parent’s era of the fifties, one mate had to be proven

adulterous. Legally, one party was deemed guilty and one was innocent.

That finding affected each party financially and socially enough so

that most couples tried hard not to divorce. In Canada the rate of

divorce in 1951 was one out of twenty couples. In the late sixties,

the “sexual revolution” began and couples rebelled against the

constraints of marriage. Movie makers and journalists became rich

extolling the virtues of free love and liberation.

The addition of more grounds for divorce and the elimination

of the need to appear in court made it easier for couples to split.

Now there are “no fault” divorces which further decrease the stigma.

By 1987 one out of two couples divorced. Since then, the annual

divorce rate has dipped slightly. The stigma is almost gone. Books are

written about doing your own divorce. One can obtain a low budget

quickie divorce by phone or fax to the Dominican Republic in about

three days. There are “divorce parties”. Even the Royal Family

discusses its divorce dilemmas on t.v.

The divorce picture is not all rosy. According to sociologist

Lenore Weitzman, divorced women get by on about 64% of the income they

had during marriage. For their children, this translates into less

money for school activities, clothes, opportunities for traveling and

learning, day care and sometimes food. Children can be called on to do

adult tasks before they are ready, like caring for younger siblings.

Older children may be required to work long hours at a job to help

bring money to the family. As a result, they may fall behind in their

school work. After a while, the child may feel it is hopeless to try

to keep up and decide to quit school.

At this point a girl may decide to get pregnant and bear a

child. She may feel that in doing so her life will have more meaning

and she will receive unconditional love from the child. A U.S.

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth reveals that 27% of girls from

divorced families become mothers versus 11% of girls from traditional

families. For boys, leaving school generally means a succession of low

paying jobs or life on the streets.

Certainly our “fatherless society” cannot be blamed for all

juvenile delinquency but it is a major contributor. Morals are taught

best within the confines of a stable home with both parents present.

Retired Edmonton Police Service Superintendent Chris Braiden, notes

that in the thirty year period in which violent youth crime rose by

300% in the U.S., the number of single parent families rose by 300%

and the divorce rate doubled, the same as it did in Canada. Seventy

percent of juvenile offenders in the U.S. jails grew up without a

father.

There is a drastic shortage of positive male role models.

There is no doubt about it; single mothers have and can continue to

raise good and responsible children. It takes the physical and

emotional strength of Hercules to do it and I have great respect for

mothers who have succeeded. My own mother did it. But the numbers show

that lack of fathers contribute greatly to juvenile crime.

Lately, the role of the father is superfluous. He has been

reduced to being a household helper or a child support payer. His role

is important because he provides a love that is different than the

mother’s. Mother’s love is unconditional. Father’s love is sought

after and earned through achievement. The child must work for this

love. This type of love may sound like unreal love, but I think it is

real. The lucky child is the one who has the benefit of both kinds of

love.

The father can yield the power to invoke fear among children.

This sounds bad but it isn’t. Of course, the father can be friendly

and loving but never underestimate the power of fear to keep them in

line. I am not talking about laying a hand on the children, just the

idea of something “bad happening” if they don’t “shape up”. I can

attest to the success of fear in my own family. It works!

Without the father present, children are ripe for becoming

anything their peers want them to be. They find it hard to resist

temptation

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать