Divorce, Remarriage and Blended Families

Introduction

Marriage in recent years has changed tremendously, with new trends of remarriage emerging after divorce. The latest trend has been associated with nuclear stepfamilies characterized by diverse challenges (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2023). In the USA, more than 25% of families have experienced remarriage, and new families are taking over to replace the basic units of society in the 20th century (Freeman et al., 2023). Thus, the paper gives a critical understanding of the impact of divorce on family members and new reorganizations that follow divorce with an intense evaluation of the implications.

Body

The divorce affects the spouses emotionally and financially, undermining their welfare. In the USA, 29% of the children live with their grandparents after divorce and become the caregivers of the ageing generations (Freeman et al., 2023). The youth in school depend on their grandparents for housing but end up getting the duty of looking after older people in the community. Besides, some spouses lack financial support upon divorce and in the critical aspects where one depends on the other as the sole breadwinner. The emotional damage affects both spouses and children due to the distortion of the family setup, with violence and agony dominating the divorce (Sanner et al., 2020). Thus, the spouses and children lack proper support and emotional well-being is compromised.

The grandparents play a vital role as the caregivers to the children after the divorce or death of a parent associated with domestic violence or any other situation where the parent is missing (Kumar, 2017). In negligence cases, the grandparents act as the central pillar of educating and providing emotional and financial support to the children. In the USA, 95% of the children living with their grandparents end up getting a share in the will of the grandparents when they die (Sanner et al., 2020). They inherit houses, cars, and businesses to support their future endeavours. As such, the grandparents help in the continuity of the tradition and teach the children the morals needed to co-exist in the community. Thus, they help foster the child’s welfare and improve their sense of belonging.

There is an increased rate of remarriage after divorce, which has been associated with financial complexities. In the USA, there has been an increase in the number of remarriages, which has been associated with a rise in the lifespans and the desire to end widowhood in case of the death of a spouse (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2023). However, implications associated with financial needs are at a complex level where individuals do not know how to balance the concept of finance with the new and older families. Further, there has been an impact on children upon remarrying (Kumar, 2017). The idea of co-parenting has proved to be hectic and often results in endless conflicts, and little framework is known to address the issue. Thus, children’s welfare has been compromised by the increased trend of divorce and remarrying.

Conclusion

Divorce is associated with significantly affecting the welfare of the child even after remarrying. It undermines co-parenting as the finances are not well allocated to ensure welfare. Families are remarrying in the 21st century, where new trends in families emerge with youths acting as caregivers to grandparents upon the divorce or death of the parents. However, the grandparents play a crucial role in ensuring the welfare of their grandchildren is well addressed as they support the children by providing housing and emotional and even financial support. Hence, the concept of divorce and remarrying has a significant impact on all members of society with a broad spectrum.

References

Armstrong-Carter, E., Osborn, S., Smith, O., Siskowski, C., & Olson, E. A. (2023). Middle and High School Students Who Take Care of Siblings, Parents, and Grandparents: Associations With School Engagement, Belonging, and Well-Being. AERA Open, 9, 23328584221140337.

Freeman, J. D., Elton, J., & Lambert South, A. (2023). “Who is going to take care of these grandkids if I go?”: End-of-life planning by caregivers in grandparent-headed households. Death Studies, 47(3), 268-278.

Kumar, K. (2017). The blended family life cycle. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 58(2), 110-125.

Sanner, C., Ganong, L., & Coleman, M. (2020). Shared children in stepfamilies: Experiences living in a hybrid family structure. Journal of marriage and family, 82(2), 605-621.