The Psychology of Everyday Life:Love, Marriage, and the Baby Carriage

Divorce

What factors contribute to a hostile and acrimonious divorce?

Given the inherently antagonistic nature of divorce, the chances of the process degenerating into a hostile battle are quite high. It takes considerable willpower to contain one’s negative feelings and move through the divorce in a civil manner. One or both partners are leaving the marriage in the first place due to their dissatisfaction with it. If one partner initiated the divorce, the spouse who is left behind may have strong feelings of betrayal and abandonment. Secondly, there is the division of property and finances. This is an area rife for disagreement and conflict. Thirdly, if there are children, decisions around custody arrangements frequently elicit strong feelings. Parents may feel great loss at having to sacrifice time spent with their children. Unfortunately, parents often contaminate their co-parenting arrangements with their anger at each other.



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