How Does The Absence Of Parents Affect The Child?

The child benefits from a healthy relationship with his or her parents, but sometimes circumstances make the presence of the parent or parents in the child’s life impossible. Next, we explain how the absence of parents affects the child.

An accident, divorce, or other unwanted event can leave a child without one or both parents. When this happens, it is important for the adult to know how to deal with the long-term emotional harm that the situation may cause.

How does the absence of parents affect the child?

Parents are a source of comfort and love for a child. If one or both parents are absent, the child may suffer from a lack of attention that is important to him or her. In the absence of a mother or father, a child may suffer and experience not receiving all the support they need.

For example, to cover up or combat this vulnerability, a child may become aggressive, trying to intimidate their peers so that they do not become victims themselves. It must be remembered that not all children suffer from parental absence, nor does the potential suffering manifest in the same way in all children.

Problems caused by parental absence

The absence of a parent can be a very difficult situation for a child. In such a case, the child may experience, for example, the problems outlined below.

1. Difficulties in human relationships

The fact that a child or teen loses a parent indirectly affects his or her relationships with other people. Often the result is interpersonal problems. A child may form a bad image of themselves, carry resentment, and be afraid of being rejected.

2. Cognitive effects

According to a study published in The Journal of Human Resources ,  a child in a single-parent family is more likely to have poor cognitive abilities than a child living with two parents. This is due to the lower participation of adults in the upbringing of the child. One way to prevent this is to seek support from your family, such as family or friends.

3. Aggressiveness

A teenager who is missing one parent may feel resentment, and this may manifest as aggression.

The parent’s influence on the child’s early years teaches appropriate responses and actions to face one’s own aggression. When the other parent is absent, these teachings may be neglected.  When a child enters adolescence, he or she may therefore be unable to respond appropriately to his or her own aggression.

4. Anxiety

The child may be prone to periods of anxiety. This is because a child growing up without a parent has not had the intimacy that arises from a healthy relationship with an attachment figure.

In addition to hyperactivity, the child may experience anxiety related to the absence of the mother or father. For others, this can cause problems in coping with school.

5. School success

A normal family structure has a positive effect on a young person’s success in school. Parents encourage children to do better work at school, and young people are motivated by a desire to make adults proud.

When parents are not present, the young person loses an important source of motivation, and thus he or she has little interest in what grades are in his or her testimony.

6. Drug and alcohol abuse

Teens whose parents are not present at home are more likely than others to suffer from drug addiction or use alcohol at an early age. When there are no adults nearby who dominate the young, this is free to do anything, and this freedom is not always exercised properly.

Studies show that parental absence increases the risk of a child drinking alcohol and smoking before entering adolescence.

Remember that the absence of parents can have a very big impact on the child and the young person. However, not all children behave in the same way, so there are differences in the consequences. In any case, the most important thing is to pay attention to the child, give him love, be present and listen.