The impact of marital discord on children

c) What is the impact of marital discord on children?

The impact of marital discord on children  often have deleterious effects on the physical and mental health of persons concerned. This is all the more true when an intimate and close relationship like that of husband-wife gets dissolved. Relationship with spouse forms the foundation of family life and directly or indirectly influences many other relations like that of inlaws. 

When marital relationship becomes incongruent, the foundation of family life is shaken. This has severe consequences on the health of the distressed couples, though at a varying rate. Researches bring out that at physically, risk of diseases like asthma, arthritis, headaches, peptic ulcers and heart diseases increases more than double among couples facing marital discord. Chronic sadness, pessimism, unremitting tension, hostility and suspiciousness are common feelings among distressed couples, which in turn increase the chances of physical ailments.

In fact, some public health researchers maintain that chronic mental distress is a more serious public health risk than smoking (Goleman, 1995). Many research findings convincingly show that marital distress and ongoing unresolved marital conflicts have multidimensional harmful effects on children such as health problems, poor academic performance, poor social competence, depression, withdrawal, greater release of stress related hormones and the like (Cowan and Cowan, 1990). This is applicable for both the sexes. Divorce affects even social image and social prestige. Although public disapproval of divorce has softened, divorced individuals still confront stigma. Friends are lost, rejection is felt as friends and others assess and attribute blame. 

The impact of marital discord on children, Elaborate ‘accounts’ are developed to explain the divorce to self and to others, and many married people exclude the divorced from social gatherings and friendship networks to avoid embarrassment to both the parties. Economic consequences are also quite grave especially for women and children.

A huge majority of women, in patriarchal society like India, are hardly encouraged to be economically self-reliant. Even in duel earning families, economic constraint is definitely felt by spouses as the total monthly income reduces substantially. Most children and women after divorce experience a sharp decline in their standard of living. Economic hardship is associated with lowered parental well-being, which makes parenting less supportive and less effective. Parents are so engrossed in their sorrows and despair that disciplining is often inconsistent and harsh. This leads to distressed and impaired socio-emotional functioning among children.

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