Additionally, the child may feel guilty or responsible for the divorce, as if it were their own fault. Although children at this stage are too young to fully understand divorce, there are still many difficult changes that impact the child's life (Robin, E., 2009; Clarke-Stewart, A., & Brentano, C., 2007; Pickhardt, C. E., 2011).
In the next stage of life, which includes school-aged children ranging from six to eleven years of age, divorce tends to intensify the child's dependence. The world of children this age is a dependent one, closely connected to parents with the family as the major focus of social life. Understanding of what the world of divorce means begins to increase during this stage. However, improved understanding does not relieve the pain they feel. During this particular stage of life, the emotional stress during parental divorce moves to a new level. Children often feel upset, anxious, and even powerless due to not having any control over the situation. At this age, children struggle with the absence of the father figure in their lives and begin to feel the loss of the father. They long for their father and have an intense desire to spend more time with him. Children may also begin to incorrectly express their feelings of grief and sadness for this loss as anger. They struggle with conflicts of loyalty, for example, having to choose a parent, which then ultimately ends with the child exhibiting more anger. All children really want is for their parents to reconcile, eliminating the divorce all together. At this age, children can also tragically experience a complete lack of interest and motivation for school. They may begin to not pay attention to work, get bad grades, and have poor or even possibly aggressive behavior in school. Children of divorced families may be stigmatized, which can lead to being less popular and having difficulty socializing. In turn, school attendance may also become an issue.