How one childhood trauma haunts your health well into adulthood
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“For some adult kids of divorce, all relationships become suspect and dangerous because people can leave and that feels terrifying." - Rachel D. Miller, LMFT, Founder of Hold the Vision Therapy in Chicago.
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Decades of research has uncovered the ways in which divorce can affect children’s physical and mental health. And it appears that these health effects can last a lifetime.
The higher risk of stroke
According to a new report, published in PLoS One, older adults who experienced parental divorce are roughly 61% more likely to have a stroke compared to their peers who did not.[]
Though scientists are still figuring out why divorce may have this effect, the researchers suspect that prolonged stress can disrupt part of the nervous system, specifically the brain’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which can increase the risk of stroke in adulthood.
Children of divorced parents are at a 61% higher risk of stroke later in life, even after accounting for factors like diabetes and depression.
— Yazeid, MPH ☄️🦠 (@yazeidhafith) February 8, 2025
Researchers believe that chronic stress, high blood pressure, and sleep disturbances linked to parental divorce could be key contributors pic.twitter.com/XMYoouJb2t
Mental health stress
Research shows that the stress of divorce can immediately cause mental health issues among children. In the short term, some children may experience challenges with school, behavioral regression, and mental health issues like anxiety and depression, says Rachel D. Miller, LMFT, Founder of Hold the Vision Therapy in Chicago. Kids whose parents divorced or separated are also more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior and live in poverty, research shows.[]
In the long term, people may continue to feel emotionally insecure, even as adults.[] They may have difficulty trusting others: some may trust too easily, whereas others may be wary of getting too close to other people. “For some adult kids of divorce, all relationships become suspect and dangerous because people can leave and that feels terrifying,” Miller says.
According to Michelle English, LCSW, Executive Clinical Manager of Healthy Life Recovery in San Diego, some individuals may hold on to unresolved feelings or internalized guilt about the separation for years.
Ultimately, each person’s reaction to their parents’ divorce varies, depending on their personality, the support they receive from their friends and family members, how their parents interact with each other throughout the divorce, and other factors, Miller says.