Psychological and Social Consequences of Divorce Emphasis on Children Well-Being: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD. Student of Counseling, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Awareness of the consequences of divorce can contribute to conducting effective interventions to reduce the extent of harm to couples taking divorce. To this end, the present study aimed to discover the consequences of divorce based on children well-being through a systematic review of previous studies in the literature.

Data sources: Articles addressing the consequences of divorce during the last decade (2011 to 2021) were reviewed in SID, Noormags, Magiran, Ensani, Elsevier, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases.

Study selection: All articles published in Persian and English on the consequences of divorce were reviewed. Out of 159 retrieved articles, 38 articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed in this study.

Results: Divorce consequences were classified into three categories: individual, family, and socio-cultural consequences. Individual consequences of divorce include physical and psychological consequences such as hypochondriasis, depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and aggression, and behavioral consequences are taking sedatives, alcohol and drugs, suppression of sexual instinct, and sexual marginalization. Furthermore, from a familial perspective, children, and paternal family members suffer many consequences. Poor academic achievement, aggression, anxiety, depression, and isolation in children and increased tension and conflict, blame and protest, involvement of others in the paternal family are among the family consequences of divorce. Socio-cultural consequences of divorce include the public negative attitudes, reduction of social relations, and feelings of alienation and financial problems were identified as economic consequences of divorce.

Conclusion: Counseling and psychotherapy with couples and child's after divorce helping these them to reducing the negative prosocial consequences.

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