ADJUSTMENTS TO DIVORCE IN THE CONTEXT OF
According to Fagan and Rector (2000), an average of one million marriages end in divorce each year in America. As to the consequences, of divorce Fagan and Rector note that:
Mounting evidence in social science journals demonstrates that the devastating physical, emotional, and financial effects that divorce is having on children will last well into adulthood and affect future generations (p.1).
Among the effects of divorce, Fagan and Rector (2000) note that children of parents who divorce are more likely to be victims of abuse and to have health, behavioral, and emotional problems. They are more likely to engage in crime and substance abuse, and to do less well than other children in school. As for the adults, women who are heads of single parent families tend to be far poorer than they were than they were married and both parents will often go through a long and difficult period of adjustment in the wake of divorce (Fisher & Alberti, 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the adjustments that adults go through as a result of divorce, both how children of divorce fair when adults and the adjustment period that parents who divorce often experience. The context of the discussion is the acceptability of divorce using civil/social standards and the acceptability of divorce using biblical standards. Differences are noted and the literature on adjustment to divorce is related to its acceptability in the social/civil context and the Bible context.
Biblically Acceptable and Socially Acceptable
Chang (2004) states that the civil or societal view of when divorce is acceptable to society is that, essentially, it is acceptable when one or more partner no longer wishes to be married. This degree of acceptability has resulted, in many states, in what is called "the no fault divorce" which allows one person to dissolve a marriage even without the consent of the spouse....