Our guests are psychologist and lawyer Dr. Donald Bersoff, and child psychiatrist Dr. Eileen Bazelon. Dr. Bersoff teaches at the Villanova University School of Law in one of the country's few programs that combines a degree in law and psychology. Dr. Bazelon is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and has served as an expert witness in child custody and child abuse litigation. Sometimes divorce is the only course of action in a bad marriage. If there is domestic violence, enormous tension, infidelity, daily arguments, a poor home environment, then divorce can be a very good thing.
Divorce is certainly a significant event in the lives of the children involved.
Girls often do much better after a separation and divorce because they usually adjust more easily by developing a close bond with their mothers. Girls tend to recover from a divorce within six months to a year, whereas boys can take up to three to six years to fully recover. Unfortunately, boys often have behavioral problems, difficulty in school and difficulty with peers. Sometimes they bully others or get into fights, and other times their academic performance plummets. Research shows that such behavior can be indicative of more serious problems further down the road, like violence and substance abuse.