Philip Cohen comments on the impacts of divorce on children
A report featured on ABC News highlights Faculty Associate Philip Cohen’s comments on a study which found that U.S. children whose parents divorce when they are 5 or younger have reduced earnings as adults and increased chances of teen pregnancy, incarceration, and death. 25% to 60% of the impact that divorce has on children’s outcomes is due to a loss of financial resources, a decline in neighborhood quality, and missing parental involvement because of distance or an increased workload required to make up for lost income due to divorce. “While the study shoes the negative impacts of divorce, it can’t show what families’ lives would have been like if parents had stayed together,” said Cohen. “Parents are aware [that] divorce may have harmful consequences for their children and make difficult judgements about what is in … the interest of their children,” he noted.