Researchers, writing in the journal Psychological Science, say that a new study indicates that divorce leaves a lasting effect on our satisfaction levels. While a person's happiness level drops as she or he approaches divorce, and gradually rebounds over time, the level of satisfaction never returns to the levels felt prior to the divorce. Researcher Richard Lucas, from Michigan State University, said that although some rebounding does occur in the years immediately after a divorce, there were still lasting changes. Interestingly, Lucas found that neither age nor sex changed the effects of divorce on happiness and satisfaction. "Friends and family members of persons who have experienced such events should not assume that time naturally heals all wounds," Lucas concluded.
Perhaps more alarming were the results of a new study into the effects of divorce on children. It seems that the most harm to a child's mental health takes place in the years before the parents split up. The University of Alberta study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, suggests that staying together "for the sake of the kids" is not always the right choice.
Study author Dr. Lisa Strohschein suggested that more attention should be paid to what happens to children in the period leading up to parental divorce, rather than after the event. "Levels of child antisocial behavior actually drop following parental divorce for kids living in highly dysfunctional families," she noted. "[This calls] into question the assumption that it is the divorce event that is necessarily damaging to child mental health."
It seems that highly dysfunctional families are the ones most at risk if they stay together, although the study also found there were changes in child mental health following a divorce, with higher levels of child anxiety and depression.
Sources: American Psychological Society, University of Alberta
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