Children of Divorce Essay

Children of divorce are numerous, the effects of their biological parents separation and subsequent divorce has lasting effects on their behavior, academics, and their emotions. No one seems to care about the prevalence of divorce in society today; it is no longer considered taboo.

Divorce, a very controversial issue in today’s society, has glaring effects on society as well as individuals. Approximately half of all marriages will end in divorce, resulting in close to one million children per year struggling to deal with the aftermath (Fischer 2007). Parental divorce has been proven to have long-term negative effects on adult mental health (Chase-Lansdale, Cherlin Kiernan 1995). Divorce was at its highest rate in the early 1980s. The first group of children to be affected by these very high divorce rates entered adulthood in the 1990s allowing sociological research to begin on the adverse affects associated with divorce over the span of different ages. Until this time, a lot of research focused on short-term effects surrounding

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.

Cherlin, A. J., F. F. Furstenburg, Jr., L. Chase-Lansdale, K. E. Kiernan, P. K. Robins, D. R. Morrison, and J. O. Teitler. “Longitudinal Studies of Effects of Divorce on Children in Great Britain and the United States” 252.5011 (1991): 1386-389. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

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

In the contrary, another longitudinal study took place across two decades with a cohort of preschoolers (4 years old) whose parents had been separated between 12-18 months. They were assessed again two years later (age 6) and then follow-ups occurred at 10, 16 and 24 years of age. The sample was expanded at each assessment and ended up including divorced, non-divorced and remarried individuals among 450 families. The most significant finding of the study was that 75% of the children were able to positively adjust between 2 – 6 years post divorce, while 25% still struggled with psychosocial problems for decades (Zimiles, 2004).

The last effect in children of divorcing parents is the academic failure. As a result of the parents getting a divorce, the child may stop becoming a good student and slide more towards the slacking behavior. They may stop participating in class and in group work, even passing time chatting with friends instead of doing school work. Sometimes students do this because they feel they can get even with their parents who are divorcing.They feel their parents should not be getting divorced. It changes all aspects of the children’s lives. And often children don’t believe their parents have had any consideration for them in the decision to divorce. Children also sometimes feel they are the cause of their parents decision to divorce. This results in the students decision to get an F in classes. The student hopes this failing academic behavior will awaken the parents to his or her needs instead of the parents thinking about only themselves.

Cherlin, Andrew J., et al. "Longitudinal studies on effects of divorce on children in Great Britain and the United States." Science252.5011 (1991): 1386+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

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

Reviewing the test scores and social well-being of 142 grade-school children with divorced parents, researcher Hyon Sik was surprised to find no significant decline in the months leading up to their parents divorce. It was only during the divorce themselves that struggles emerged. And two years later the children remained behind their classmates from two-parent homes (Olson 1).

In recent decades the family institution has undergone a dramatic transformation focusing on increased divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families (Amato, 2000; Bumpass & Lu, 2000; Graefe & Lichter, 1999). Due to the increase of divorce rates children move more frequently and deal with additional family transitions throughout their childhood (Brown, 2006). As these changes slowly increase, about 40% of kids who are born to wedded, two-biological- parent families have a higher chance of parental divorce prior to reaching adulthood(Amato,2000). In addition, these children will likely experience a multitude of family disruptions and transitions as parents decide to remarry and progress with new partners. The family atmospheres during these times are incredibly detrimental to the growth and development of these children (Sun& Li, 2009). Research studies show that parental divorce can compromise educational success for their children. Children in two-parent families have noticeably higher test scores than children who are in single parent families and also had lower chances of graduating from high school (Sun & Li, 2001). One of the rationalizations for the academic difficulty in divorced

The purpose of the quantitative research design is to show that divorce does affect children in their academic performance, causes negative socially development skills, and a change in image of self. The research is done by a questionnaire taking by teachers and their students at an elementary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The population for this questionnaire were African-American, Caucasian, Native American, Asia and others. This questionnaire was a random selection sampling based of which teachers agreed to participate in the study. The questionnaire was used to prove that previous studies were accurate on the impact of divorce not only academically but socially and imaging. The research will prove that further investigation is needed for

In these cases, divorce may lead to less distraction, fear, or confusion for children, ultimately resulting in a healthier home environment. This, in turn, may not result in children experiencing less academic success and even may have the opposite effect. Guinart and Grau argue that divorce may ultimately result in a positive change in some cases, as children of divorce are shown to “adapt” and achieve a “reasonably harmonized psychological profile” (Guinart and Grau 2014: 410). While this is an extreme scenario, the harms of divorce may still be observable, however they may have a more diminished effect on the child compared to prior

These include academic deterioration, antisocial and delinquent behaviors, anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression. Early promiscuity, relationship difficulties, and illicit drug use are also noted. Other studies correlate resiliency in adulthood as one product of living in a conflictual family system”(Rich et al., 2007 p.164). The effects of divorce vary depending on the situation and the child. “Hess and Camara found that many children of divorce suffer severe emotional consequences such as depression, anger, anxiety, and withdrawal, any of which, if prolonged, can have a negative impact on the child’s overall emotional development. It is also reported adjustment problems in the area of cognitive, emotional, and social development among children of divorce as well. In addition, parental separation has been found to be particularly stressful for adolescents”(Bornstein and Walters, 1988 p.248).

Divorce affects education in quantifiable terms. Education influences a child’s economic status through multiple fronts. The first dimension is access to the job market and occupation. Good education or schooling is associated with higher pay which in turn translates to better lifestyles and quality of life (Jeffrey 67-68). Studies indicate that divorce and low educational performance are positively correlated. A study conducted by Potter established that students’ in divorced families