Children Of Divorce

Divorce is one of many controversial subjects in family and human development research. What inspired me to critically analyze the article “Does Divorce Create Long-Term Negative Effects for Children?” is the challenge it would be for me to put my bias aside considering I am from a divorced home. After reading the article and analyzing it over and over, I can’t help but think that the writer answering “YES” to this controversial question overlooked many variables and over generalized his findings and research. With Zinsmeister overgeneralizing his research, not considering enough alternate explanations for long-term negative effects divorce, and his lack of relevant information needed to assess reliability and validity are why I find this article to be insightful but not accurate and hope to show why.

For the past decades, divorce has been increasing dramatically throughout the United States; it is a common issue in this society. Approximately one million children experience divorce or parental separation every year(Shinoda, Kevin Seiji, 2001, La Mirada, pg. 9). According the 2000 census data, about 28% of divorce or separated parents, have at least one children who is under age of 6(Kim Leon Jul., 2003 pg. 258). Also, slightly more than half of all divorced children are under the age of 18, and about 40% of all children will experience divorce or parental separation before reaching adulthood(Shinoda, Kevin Seiji, 2001, La Mirada, pg. 9). Divorces strongly affect the development of children, and most of time, problems

The impact of divorce on children has been associated with lower academic scores, behavioral difficulties, and depression. Therefore, it is important to make compromises that benefit the

Divorce causes many problems for children and has many implications. Psychological implications include mental health problems and behavioral problems. Social roles are turned inside out and upside down. Children are often pulled in many directions. In the United States divorce is very common and often leaves children confused and without options. Many turn toward violence, crime, drugs, and isolation. Studies show how adults can reduce the tension for these children. Other

According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology, one half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. With these one million children are affected each year. Eighty five percent of these children live in single parent households, with the mother being the head of the house. The father is usually distant or does not speak to the children at all. These children are highly affected and experience a great deal of emotional and academic problems. Especially when you compare them to children with non-divorced parents. During adolescence, these children have twice as high as a rate of dropping out of high school, having teenage pregnancy, and experiencing deliquiate behavior. I am not a child of divorce, but a child dear to me is. I have seen firsthand the emotional tear that it can play into a child’s life, and the way it affects a family. Divorce may cause children to grow up anxious and scared. Children may even ask themselves “why me?”, “what can I do?”, and “where should I go from here?”.

A major consequence of parental divorce on children is the negative effects on their psychosocial well-being. In his study, researcher Daniel Potter (2010) studied how divorce affects children’s psychosocial well-being and their academic achievement. Taking data from the “Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten cohort” (ECLS-K), his study spanned from the spring of 1999 to the spring of 2004 (Potter, 2010, p. 935). Potter looked specifically at academic levels of Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 3, and Grade 5 (Potter, 2010). Out of a total sample of 10,061 children, 870 children had parents who were divorced. Potter measured their psychosocial well-being based on reports that were taken from their

Hyun Sik Kim (2011) To summarize, I found setbacks among children of divorce in math test scores during and after the experience of parental divorce (i.e., significant combined effects of the in- and post-divorce effect), a negative in-divorce effect on interpersonal skills and negative combined effects during the in- and post-divorce periods, and a pronounced in-divorce effect on the internalizing behavior dimension. However, I found no negative consequences of parental divorce for reading test scores, nor did I find an increase in externalizing behavior problems in any stage. Additionally, I did not find statistically significant estimates of a pre-divorce effect, a resilience parameter at the population level, or a total divorce effect as defined herein. A discussion of several limitations of this article is necessary to properly evaluate its contributions and to delineate future tasks for a

The dissolution of a marriage not only leaves an impact on the adults in the courtroom but upon the children involved as well. With one in every two marriages ending in divorce, more and more children are left as byproducts of a broken home. The divorce process can be blamed for how children will handle issues both as they mature and after they enter the adult world. This paper will analyze statistics associated with children of divorce, detailing the short term and long term effects that divorce has on children and will discuss what can be done by parents to lessen the impact of divorce on a developing mind.

There is so much emotional distress that these children endure due to their parents being in a divorce that one can only imagine the fragile state of mind that they are in. An example of such is being with one parent for a few days that may differ from the other, religiously, economically and socially from the other parent. This causes tension and confusion amongst the children that affects their everyday life and well-being. Another example would be, if one parent tells the child that school is important and they should strive for better by getting good grades and going to college, and the then on the other days the other parent is telling the child that going to college gets you nowhere, it causes disparagement and confusion within the child making them feel displaced.

Divorce negatively affects teens academic success. “It diminishes learning capacities and high school and college attainment” (Fagan, 1999). In general most children live with their mother after their parents go through a divorce. “The absence of the father lowers cognitive test scores for young children in general, but especially for girls’ math scores.”, “By age thirteen there is an average difference of half year in reading abilities between children of divorced parents and those from intact families.” (Fagan, 1999). Divorce is at an all time high in the United States. Divorced parents is affecting children of all ages and it is even beginning to affect those in adulthood. “Molepo (2012) explains that ‘the findings suggest that teachers perceive younger children from divorced parents were more likely to have emotional and behavioural challenges than those from intact families’” Divorce affects all ages of their offspring, in this study, high school teenagers were the only ones that were

Divorce is a controversial issue in the United States. On one side of the argument, some researchers claim that children of divorced parents are still able to adapt to their new environment and have an enhanced level of maturity, among other things. On the other hand, researchers like Karl Zinsmeister believe that the effects of divorce on children can never be fully overcome and marital conflicts cause significantly less damage to children than divorce does (Zinsmeister, 1996). The purpose of this paper is to summarize the article and provide three weaknesses and one strength of the author’s argument and provide an opinion of the topic.

This scholarly article provides Jeremy Arkes’ findings on the effects of the divorce and separation process on children’s academic achievement and problem behavior over a long period of time, that specific time being about 4 years or so. He first found students’ academic records from four or more years before a separation and then followed them during and after. By doing this the author can examine how children are affected in different periods while seeing exactly what’s being effected in the student’s academic life to the disruption and whether any of the negative effects continue or get better or worse as time goes on. Arkes took a group of seven to fourteen year-olds, and found that the students’ reading test scores are most affected; and for reading comprehension, the negative effects progressed negatively and became worse as time passed from the student’s parents’ divorce.

The children of divorced parents often struggle in school because of a divorce. Not having a father or a mother figure at home at any given time can have traumatic effects on the young. It can be quite bothersome for students to focus solely on academics while experiencing something emotional within the family such as a divorce. In the article

Children need intact families to flourish. It is hard to imagine that if the family is torn apart, a child can simply adjust to a new situation, home, step-parent, siblings, and entire change of life as they know it without suffering significant effects upon their mental health and development lacks. Despite voices that serve to minimize the effects of divorce on children, this paper will show that the negative effects upon their mental health and development are such that the best solution is to avoid divorce all together. According to Stinson and Jones, “well-being on the road to adulthood for both children and teens hinges on family relationships.”

Divorce and its effects on children are common issues that are on the rise in the world today. Divorce affects more than just the married couple. Children often bear the brunt of divorce, which makes divorce a complicated decision for most parents. Understanding the effects divorce has on a child is important to know exactly why a child acts a certain way. A divorce can affect a child psychologically, intellectually, and even behaviorally. Children can suffer physiologically from things like depression, intellectually by having trouble in school and behaviorally by having trouble in social settings. Legally, a divorce is a single event, but from a psychological standpoint, it is a complicated,