In June 2013, it was discovered that divorce could affect children at young ages and inhibit them from developing secure relationships with their parents later in life, according to the Huffington Post. It’s long been discussed what the effects are that separation has on kids, ranging from depression and self-esteem troubles to relationship worries.

According to BMC Public Health, teens have a higher chance for depression and anxiety if their parents divorce before their children reach 15. The older the child, the better appointed they are to deal with emotional changes.

Junior Chris Barker has found his footing within relationships since his parents divorced, despite the hardship.

“If anything, things have gotten easier. It’s a lot less tense at home; not a lot of stress between us,” Barker said.

Teens have the ability to push through as long as they have a supportive atmosphere to guide them, but a wound so close to the heart is difficult to heal, no matter what the age or emotional stability of a person.

“Children and teens have the attitude that their parents should be able to work through and solve any issue. Parents are perceived by the children as very competent people with supernatural abilities to meet the needs of the children. No problem should be too great for their parents to handle. For a child, divorce shatters this basic safety and belief concerning the parents’ abilities to care for them and to make decisions that truly consider their well-being,”  licensed counselor and therapist Steven Earll said.

Because of the foreign nature or parental disputes, children of any age have the mindset that familial troubles are far away from their subjective worlds; it’s “someone else’s problem.”

“I didn’t have many thoughts about divorce [at first] because it was just something that happened. You hear about it all the time. I don’t remember much about hearing the news, but at first I didn’t believe it. You think it is never going to happen to you,” Barker said.

While some relationships are necessary to break out of in order to support a healthy family, divorce is an option to consider last. Psychologist Judith Wallerstein once did a 25 year study on children with divorced parents, and instead of finding that they had all recovered more or less, she found that they continued to feel emotional conflicts. This was a quarter of a century later; nearly a fourth or more of their lives had past since the initial conflict and they were still feeling the effects.

“For all children, their parents’ divorce colors their view of the world and relationships for the rest of their lives,” J.D. Amy Desai wrote in her article “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids.”

So while it may seem that kids are recovering, parents need to take the utmost care to continue nurturing their kids if divorce is absolutely necessary.