Posted by Chester Morton / Friday 20 April 2018 / No comments
The negative consequences or effects of divorce
THE CONSEQUENCES OR EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
Definition of marriage
Marriage can be described as a union between a man and woman
to live together as husband and wife, after they have gone through all the
processes or rites that are recognized by the families of both parties.
What is Divorce?
Divorce, on the other hand can be described as putting an end
to the marriage that previously existed between two married people. It is not a
divorce if one of the couple just moves out and says he or she is no more
interested in the marriage. The marriage ends when, if under traditional
marriage, one party sends drinks to the family of the other party, indicating
that the marriage should be annulled and it is actually annulled by the appropriate
elders of both families. If it was a marriage under the ordinance, only a judge
acting under competent jurisdiction can annul the marriage on very tenable
grounds.
The major question on the minds of many people is how divorce
affects people around, including children, family members and even the spouses
themselves. Broken homes, caused by divorce can lead to a lot of things, some
of which are discussed below.
THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF DIVORCE
Single parenthood
The first obvious thing to see after a marriage ends is the
physical separation of the couple. Whoever gets custody the child or children
go one way and the other partner also goes his or her way. The one who has custody of the children now has to single-handedly take care of the needs
of the children. A job that used to be performed by two people is now performed by one person. Where there is no financial support from the other, this can be burdensome.
Absence or minimal
parental control
The absence of one of the parents can lead to less parental
control or absolute absence of same. The supervision of the children would no
longer be as efficient as it used to be when the marriage was intact. This can
lead to the acquisition of certain habits that may be detrimental to the
well-being of the children.
Deliberate neglect of
children
The bitterness associated with the breakdown of the marriage
pushes some of the spouses to willfully shirk their parental responsibilities
toward the children. The man is not willing to support financially because he
fears the woman would also partake in the money he sends. If the child was
staying with the man, the woman would be unwilling to render any form of
support just to spite the man and make him look bad before the children.
Teenage Pregnancy
Another negative effect of a broken marriage is teenage
pregnancy on the part of the teenage children. The financial pressures of
single-parenthood may lead to the inability of the single parent to adequately
provide the needs of the teenage girl. Consequently, the teenager may seek such
help from people who might take advantage of them, especially men, leading to unwanted pregnancies
in their teens.
The syndrome of street
children
After some divorces, the single parent may find it very difficult
to adequately cater for the children. Under such circumstances, the children
may decide to venture into the street to see if they could find any economic
activity to help themselves and the family. They engage in all types of activities jobs to
survive. Eventually, they end up living in the streets and since there are no learned skills to fall on to earn a decent living, they fall on their brawl
which cannot last them forever.
Prostitution
The girls are lured into prostitution by pimps who are on the
lookout for girls to replenish their stock of prostitutes. The girls are
sometimes compelled to enter into prostitution because they have nowhere to
turn to. Others, by this time may have developed loose morals so to move a notch higher into prostitution is not
a difficult thing for them to do.
SAMPLE QUESTION(S)
1. Examine four (4) problems created by broken marriages in
the Ghanaian society.
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