INFLUENCE OF THE PARENTAL DIVORCE ON THE CHILDREN'S ADULT LIFE

The divorce is a very important problem in modern family. This is a dynamic phenomenon. In Poland, for example, one in three marriages disintegrates. For everyone divorce is a very painful experience. The children, they are the one who suffer most, beaucouse their emontional peace is shattered. Parents need some 2 or 4 years to adapt to the new reality after divorce but children need more - 10 or 15 years to overcome negative feelings of pain, anger, shame or despair. In the article I present the general review of research concerning the matter of adult children of the divorced parents and also my own results of the research. In my opinion, research among the people affected by divorce is extremely difficult. Divorce invokes in every involved person (including parents and their children) strong feelings of pain and misery. The knowledge from research might be used in practice, for example in education or therapeutic programs, which could help in better working out the loss caused to the children by parent's divorce. Such knowledge may also help in ‘new start' in family life after a divorce