Divorce has resulted in economic and social costs to individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities, as well as to government. The economic costs of divorce can be categorized into direct personal costs to the couple and costs to the community (state and government). Direct personal costs include personal loss of income, legal fees, divorce filing fee, divorce education class, housing, and lost productivity at workplace (e.g. stress, sick time). In addition, divorcees need to pay for child alimony and child support. To the extent that divorce contributes to the health problems such as anxiety, mental strain, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or cancer. To get treatment due to the consequences of marital dissolution on health problems, it will incur costs to divorcees. Marital dissolution also causes poor financial management behaviors among couple for instance excessive debt which can lead towards non-business bankruptcy (personal or household).
On top of that, the economic consequences of divorce also involve costs to the community. Schramm (2006) revealed that most of the direct costs to the state and government come from the administrative costs of the state and government program such as Medicaid, Child Care, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, Utility rate assistance, Child support enforcement, courts, Food stamps, Lower Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and Women, Infant and Children Program (WIP).
Of course there are social costs due to the marital dissolution. Children are deprived of two parents. Single parents have more complicated lives because they need to raise their children without assistance from partner. In addition, divorce also increased levels of anger, stress, depression, hostility, anxiety, and somatic complaints (stomachaches, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, and lack of concentration). Furthermore, social costs include diminished relationship quality between parent-child.
Marital dissolution may affect parental well-being which influences parenting behavior, child-rearing practices, and the quality of parent-child interaction. For example, it may affects parenting practices by reducing affective support, inconsistent discipline, and lowering levels of supportiveness (Fox & Suzanne, n.d). Moreover, marital dissolution has been associated with specific child outcomes such as more impulsive and anti social behaviors.
