THE TRAUMATIC EFFECT OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN

Abstract

Legally, divorce is simply the termination of the marriage contract. However, when evaluated from the spiritual point of view, the breakdown of family unity is a complex phenomenon that causes the family to split or break up completely and can shake all family members and even those in the immediate environment. Children are the most affected by this process. Divorce potentially brings along a series of changes that will seriously affect the development of children, and in this sense, it is defined as a trauma for the child. In this study, it is aimed to decipher the relationship between divorce and the child and to reveal how much the child is affected by the divorce and whether it has traumatic effects as a result of this deciphering. Questionnaire-interview technique and childhood trauma scale were used within the scope of the study, and support was received from 100 families and 174 children. According to the findings, the relationship between the trauma scale total scores of the participants and the education level was statistically significantly higher in high school students compared to primary and secondary school students, according to the Kruskal Wallis test results. In addition, according to Kruskal Wallis test results, the relationship between total trauma scale scores and substance use was statistically significantly higher in smokers compared to non-substance users. In addition, according to the relationship between the total scores of the trauma scale and the place where the parents will stay after divorce, it was statistically significantly higher in children who wanted to stay with their mother after divorce compared to children who wanted to stay with their father or with others. As a result, it has been determined that divorce has a heavy effect on children, and this effect has been found to be traumatic.