Divorce on Health

Divorce and single parenting could be a major shift to a family. For a child who is witnessing this happen in their own family, it can tend to impact them personally. For some, it impacts their daily life, including their schooling. Each person will deal with their parents divorce in their own way, but it has been shown how it can affect their grades or overall school performance.

            Many parents worry about their child’s emotional and mental well-being when considering divorce, part of which being how their education will be affected. There have been research studies that show that children whose parents have a divorce are likely to have a lower grade point average than others in the grade.

            “Often the stress experienced through a divorce can negatively impact a child’s academic grades. Often this stress can cause difficulty concentrating on school work and rebellious behavior, which can result in poor grades and impaired academic performance,” The Wave Clinic director and founder Fiona Yassin said.

            A lot of younger children who witness their parents divorce are more likely to be impacted long-term by a divorce. Some now asingle parents have witnessed a change in behavior or a change in their relationships with others. A study done by Merripedia has shown that students often lower their goals or dreams that have to do with education while their parents are getting a divorce.

            “My parents got divorced in like 2019, so when I was 9. I was in fourth grade. Well it was during covid, so I had to move to Newtown. It was really difficult at the start to get used to because it was such a change. Over time though, it has become normal to me and the rest of my family, and it got a lot easier and didn’t impact me much as the years went on,” NHS freshman Fiona Mackessy said.

            Some children see very significant impacts on their academics during a parents divorce, while some have no impact. There is no one clear explanation to why the effects on children's education vary so much, and this is because it is something difficult to study.

Divorce also can make relationships for the child harder to make in general, but especially like friends at school. This can cause stress during school which leads to focus issues, and is assumed to be a reason for lower academic achievement within students.

            There is no exact way to be certain that divorce affects children’s education. Each person or child is different, as is each divorce, and the prior relationship between the child and the parents involved can also change how this affects a child’s education. Even children in the same family may see different effects on their education from their parents’ divorce.

            “I think that even though I haven’t experienced bad grades because of the divorce, that might be because I was so young, and grades weren’t like As, Bs, and Cs. But even besides that, I know I had acted differently during the divorce,” Mackessy said.

            Studies suggest that children of divorced parents are set up for failure: 8% less likely to graduate high school, 12% less likely to attend college, and 11% less likely to complete it, according to Very Well Family, a website specifically for parent and family health. This shows that a lack of family stability can contribute to decreased academic success.

“My parents got divorced last February so like pretty recently. Their divorce isn’t that bad on me. It is kind of just a pain to move my stuff around but like all in all it is not that bad, like my dad even got a new girlfriend. Overall it doesn’t bother me too much,” NHS freshman Lyla Bshara said.

Again, divorce is difficult for all family members. The issue with children is that it is difficult trying to understand the changing family dynamic and can leave them distracted as well as confused. This could interrupt their daily life and that can mean it will in the end affect their academic performance. The more distracted children are, the more likely they are to not be able to focus on their school work.

            There have been nearly three decades of research that study the impact of a healthy family structure on a child's well-being. Pediatricians, therapists, and scientists have noted that a divorce puts a damper on any specific child academically, physically, and emotionally.