World News and Trends: Divorce's affects felt well into adulthood
Each year more than a million children under age 18 are impacted by new divorces in the United States.
According to psychoanalyst Judith Wallerstein, founder of the Center for the Family in Transition in Corte Madera, Calif., the impact of broken homes lasts well into adulthood.
Dr. Wallerstein recently wrote her third book on the effects of divorce on children. In The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study, she asserts that destroyed marriages affect children for life. Continuing her long-term study of the lives of 130 people who were 3 to 18 when their parents divorced, she concludes that divorce abruptly ends childhood, makes children depressingly lonely and can prematurely hurtle them into a tumultuous adolescence.
"But it's in adulthood that children of divorce suffer the most," she says. By the time they reach their 30s, only half have stable, productive personal lives.
What sort of problems do they face? Repeated failure and heartbreak in adult relationships are common, she says. Not knowing what kind of person they are looking for and having a pessimistic outlook from the start, they are likely to enter into relationships that are doomed as soon as they begin. Even when relationships are good, many expect disaster and find it impossible to handle inevitable conflicts.
When we better understand the long-term consequences on society and children, the innocent victims of divorce, we can better understand why God tells us He hates divorce. (Sources: USA Weekend, Malachi 2:16.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: November - December 2000
Course Content
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Melvin Rhodes
Melvin Rhodes is a member of the United Church of God congregation in Lansing, Michigan.
