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The Effects of Divorce on Children
A Potential Cause for Bedwetting
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Although the primary parties involved are parents, divorce affects every member of the family. Children are witnesses to the stress, confusion and hurt that often accompany divorce. With the current divorce rate at 52.4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Vital Statistics, many children are forced to deal with divorce – and the emotional, mental and physical effects that it brings.
Children's immediate concern is how divorce will affect their day-to-day life, according to Dr. Stephen Sheldon, director of the sleep medicine center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. Dr. Sheldon explains that children may be scared, concerned, sad, angry, or may even feel guilty and will act out as a result.
"Any of these emotions can lead to a full range of reactions such as acting out, depression, regression, displaced anger, withdrawing, or a combination of any of these," Dr. Sheldon says. When a separation or divorce happens, the children will be told the "'what and how' related to telling the children – as well as what happens afterward – which can often determine the type, amount and appropriateness of a child's reaction."
One common reaction to divorce is the occurrence, re-emergence or increase in frequency of bedwetting episodes. "Children who have a history of bedwetting can have a reoccurrence of 'accidents' after learning their parents are separating," Dr. Sheldon says. "Younger children are more likely to experience this, but older children – as old as 12 to 14 – can find themselves bedwetting again. It is fairly common for children with no history of wetting the bed to experience this as a result of the stress, fear and other emotions."
