In addition, household routines are frequently interrupted, resulting in irregular meals and bedtimes. This particularly effects children in the year following the divorce. The Intermediate Effects of Divorce on Children Health Children experiencing the disruption of their parents' marriages tend to have poorer emotional adjustment, including being more anxious, than children not undergoing this experience. Children from disrupted families showed an increased risk of accidents, injuries and poisoning, and elevated scores for health vulnerability in comparison to those living with both biological parents. Academic Achievement Children with divorced parents, are more likely to exhibit signs of early disengagement from school than children from intact families.
Marital disruption is accompanied by increases in truancy and more negative attitudes toward school.
Marital disruption appears to be associated with behavioral and affective changes, rather than with changes in more cognitive phenomena like aspirations and grades. Children of divorce report lower educational expectations on the part of their parents, less monitoring of school work by both their mothers and fathers, and less overall supervision of school and social activities than children from intact families. The change in parenting practices is strongest for father's monitoring of school work, which reflects the fact that most children live with their mothers after a divorce. One possible reason for lower academic achievement is a diminution in income in the custodial parent's household. For example, income differences account for between 30 and 50 percent of the overall difference in high school graduation rates among children from two parent and single parent households.