Parents’ concerns about their child’s wellbeing after a divorce may have just been validated.
Kids with divorced parents are twice as likely to develop health problems than their counterparts with parents still that were married, according to a new study.
“It is not the break-up in itself that has negative effects on the children’s health, but improper handling of the situation by the parents,” said María Dolores Seijo Martínez, a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and co-author of the paper.
Divorce can be hard for children, but the impact of stress caused by their parents can be short-lived if the tension is resolved. However, Martínez warns that the longer periods of the stress can have a “toxic” effect.
Researchers at Santiago de Compostela and Vigo universities in Spain examined the wellbeing 467 children, of both married and divorced parents, between two and 18 years old.
The study found that children of divorce were specifically at a higher risk for gastrointestinal, genitourinary, dermatological and neurological issues.
However, the findings did not record a connection to respiratory, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, or allergy issues.
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