Parental Absence: How Does It Affect Children?
Parental absence affects children in many negative ways; especially the very smaller children. Children benefit from a healthy relationship with both parents, but circumstances can sometimes make it impossible. In this article, we explain how parental absence affects children.
Death, divorce or other unpleasant event can leave a child without one of his or her parents. If this happens, it is necessary to know how to deal with the long-term emotional effects that parental absence can cause.
How does parental absence affect children?
Parents are a source of comfort and warmth for their children. When one or both parents are absent, young people may be deprived of the necessary attention.
When mom or dad is absent from home , children may suffer and feel that they do not have all the support they need.
In order to hide this vulnerability and possibly counteract it, some young people may, among other things, become aggressive with the aim of scaring others before they themselves become victims. However, not all children suffer the effects of parental absence in the same way.
Problems related to parental absence
Parental absence can be complicated for children. Therefore, problems may occur such as the following:
Problematic relationships are one of the results of parental absence
When a child or teenager loses a parent, this indirectly affects his or her relationship with others. A predominant consequence is problematic conditions. The young person may develop a bad image of themselves and become more and more disgusting, in addition to fearing greater abandonment.
2. Children whose parents are absent may suffer from negative cognitive effects
According to a study in The Journal of Human Resources , single parents are more likely to have children with lower cognitive abilities. A contributing factor to this is less adult participation in the adolescent’s upbringing. One way to combat this is to find support through community or family participation.
Aggression can manifest itself in children in case of parental absence
A teenager who lacks a parent may have anger issues, which can manifest as aggression. The influence of parents in a child’s early years teaches him or her the appropriate reactions and actions to respond to aggression.
When one parent is missing, these lessons can go unnoticed. When they reach adolescence, the young person is more likely to lack the ability to deal with their own aggression in an appropriate way. Single parents are more likely to have adolescents with lower cognitive capacity.
4. Anxiety is caused by children who have not had intimacy and closeness with their parents
The child may be more prone to episodes of anxiety. This is because a child without parents has not had the intimacy and closeness that a healthy relationship provides with an attachment figure.
Along with hyperactivity, anxiety problems related to maternal or paternal separation can occur. For teens, this can lead to problems with academic performance.
5. Children who have absent parents do not perform very well academically
A normal family structure has a positive impact on the young person’s academic performance. Parents encourage their children to perform better in school, while young people remain motivated by the desire to make adults feel proud of them.
With absent parents, the young person loses his or her most important motivational factor, and therefore cares very little about the grades they receive in school.
6. Drug and alcohol abuse
Young people with absent parents are more likely to fall into drug abuse, or alcohol consumption before they reach the legal age to do so. By not having anyone nearby to control them, they begin to be responsible for their own freedom. As a result, they do not always use it correctly.
In fact, research has shown that parental absence increases the risk of children drinking and smoking before becoming teenagers.
Finally, remember that parental absence can have a greater impact on the little ones. But not all children are the same, so you need to know that it will not affect them all in the same way. In these cases, it is most important to pay attention to them and give them love, in addition to always being present and listening to their concerns.
