Divorce Update: Children Are The Real Victims, Study Shows

Divorce is common in the United States. The latest divorce news regarding Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are spreading globally. And the divorce can victimize the children as a new study shows that kids living with one parent are at risk to be hooked to smoking and booze.

English researchers conducted a study and found that children who experience the loss of a mother or father in their early stage are more likely to be influenced by smoking and drinking during their teens. No matter what the causes of the parental absence are, for instance, the death of one parent, separation or divorce, the same risky behavior still shows in their childhood.

One of the study authors from the University College London, Rebecca Lacey, said that "some children, perhaps, seem to be taking up smoking and alcohol as ways of coping with this. Children might need extra support should a parent become absent." Their research emphasizes the impact of stress that happens during the children's early stage in life.

An ongoing study started by Lacey and colleagues entitled Millennium Cohort Study has been following the health of 19,000 children born between September 2000 and January 2002. The children were surveyed from 9 months old, then at 3 years old, 5, 7 and 11. The parental absence was monitored up to age 7, according to The Guardian. 

Children ages 11 self-reported that they are engaged in smoking and drinking. To have a better result, among the 19,000 children, Lacey together with her team studied the data of 10,940 kids. The result indicated that 4 percent of boys and 2 percent of girls tried smoking when they reached the age of 11. As for alcohol 15 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls admits of trying, according to CNN. 

However, further research needs to be conducted because the team wants to know what causes these type of behavior. "What we know from previous studies is that parental absence experienced in childhood is associated with smoking and alcohol consumption in adulthood. We know these things are associated but we don't know that one causes the other," Lacey ended.