How does the absence of a parent affect a child's self-esteem? Divorce, physical abuse, and emotional abuse among parents can scar the self esteem of children and teenagers. It can affect the child in many,...
It can affect the child in many, many ways. A lot of times children will blame themselves for what happened between their parents. If it is a divorce that includes geographic separation, the child can suffer from separation anxiety. It all depends on the developmental level that the child is on when the divorce happens.
In an abusive situation, whether it's emotional or physical abuse, the child is better off having limited contact with the abusing parent. The risks outweigh the benefits. Sometimes, I even think emotional abuse can be worse for a child than physical. I'm not a lawyer or a judge, but in my opinion, a child should be removed from that type of situation. There should only be supervised visitation.
