Ideas about what constitutes a family in Australia has changed throughout history (Featherstone & Smaal, 2013). As a result, a wide range of social, cultural and historical changes have influenced family social work today (Collins, Jordan & Coleman, 2013). This essay will explore social and cultural changes in Australia over the past fifty years and how these particular changes affect social work practice within families, young people and children. In addition, this essay will provide a personal reflection of the author’s family experiences, and how these experiences will influence the author’s social work practice with children, young people and families. This personal reflection will also identify the strengths that the author holds in …show more content…
Bengtson (2001) states that due to an increase in single-parent families resulting from divorce, there is an increase in children becoming victims of poverty when living in female-headed families. According to Popnoe (as cited in Bengtson, 2001) the increase in economical struggles and decline in the overall well-being of children in mother-headed families has been strongly correlated with the absence of fathers in families today. Furthermore, the negative consequences of divorce on children and young people has also been prominently discussed in literature. Howe (1999) states that in the 1996 census, the number of children of divorce was the highest ever in Australia. Studies reveal that for many children, an initial trauma lasting for a year occurs after the parents have divorced (Howe, 1999). In addition, young people from divorced families have reported experiencing lower levels of satisfaction with various dimensions of life and higher levels of psychological distress and depression (Chase-Landsdale, Cherlin, & Kiernan, 1995). Social work practice, therefore recognises the need to accept diversity in families and the effect that changing family structures can have on the social, economical and psychological well-being of children, young people and families. “Australia has a unique history that has formed the diversity of its peoples, their cultures and lifestyle today” (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2011, p. 1). ABS (2011) report states that Australia
Australia is a very culturally diverse country, meaning that it consists of many cultures and ethnicities from around the world. This diversity is mostly due to immigration,
The family structures and the form of households in Australia have profoundly changed in the past decade. Among the most significant changes is the increasing numbers of one-parent families with children under 15 years (ABS, 2007). This paper aims to explore the extent and nature of the growing population of single parents and their households in Australia, particularly giving attention to their health status and related primary health care services. A single parent family composes of one parent with at least one dependent child residing in the same household (Qu & Weston, 2013). Single-parent families are at higher risk of disadvantage compared to other family types, especially when it comes to housing, nutrition, income, employment,
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.
The statistics for divorce in the 1990's suggest that nearly sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. Given this startling figure, the assumption can be made that many children will experience some effects caused by the life-changing event called divorce. What is it exactly about divorce that causes negative consequences for these children? In what ways will these children be effected? Will these effects show outwardly? I will attempt to uncover some of the complexities surrounding these psychological questions in the following text. The unsettling fact is: young children of divorced parents face great psychological challenges due to the environmental conditions and changes associated with divorce (Wolchik and Karoly 45).
Australia is one of the most multicultural Countries in the world, with almost half of Australia’s current population being born in another Country (ABS, 2017).
When you look at Australia you see it for what it is, a diverse country. Through its History to
All the subjects were middle-class, suburban families, and the children, by and large, were happy, health youngsters. Wallerstein and Kelly made this selection deliberately to eliminate the effects of poverty, urban living, and preexisting emotional disturbance on families, thus highlighting the impact of divorce. The researcher found that divorce hit almost all children like a bolt
The social problem impacts children in Toronto ages 6-18. Divorce, as the center of this paper is defined as a separation and a practice that lot of people goes through in life. It is also known as dissolution or termination of marriage, and or the annihilation of a marriage or marital union. (Insert). This continues to escalate over the years and therefore become a somber social problem; though it is a slow process but eventually results in families to fall apart. Nevertheless, there are many facets in which a marriage could fall-apart and end up in divorce, and the effects are enormous and enduringly deteriorate the tie or relationship between child and parents. According to statistic Canada divorce rate for couples, ages 50 to 54 is 38%,
A family is defined as “a group consisting of two parents and their children living together as a unit.” (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2014) This definition represents how the typical family should be, but in Australia there seems to be no typical Australian family because families have changed greatly over the past fifty years. Many factors have contributed to the change in families over the past fifty years such as marriage and birth rates, the roles of families and the number of family members. The typical stereotypes of families and their roles, marriage and birth rates and smaller households will be the main points discussed to support the hypothesis. This essay will also link the three social paradigms functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic
Fagan, Patrick F. and Robert Rector. "The Effects of Divorce on America." World & I, vol. 15, no. 10, Oct. 2000, p. 56. EBSCOhost, fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=3628746&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 March 2017. Fagan and Rector discuss the many issues divorce can have on a child. They argue that when it comes to divorce, there are primarily negative outcomes for the child involved. Children who are victims of a divorced family have an increased chance to abuse drugs and become involved in crime. These children also have a higher rate of living in poverty, being undereducated, and becoming psychologically
Introduction Families in Australia are diverse like many other countries around the world. There are families from different socioeconomic backgrounds, races, origins, ages, sexual orientation, sizes, composition, health conditions, and just about everything else (Family Matters, 2006; Lee, K & Lee, J, 2016). According to Qu and Ruth (2013), a report conducted in 2011 found that there were about 22.3 million people residing in Australia at that time. Per the report, Australian households consisted of 72% family households with 37% of these households consisted of couples with dependent children, 11% were single parent households with dependent children, and 12% of these households were same-sex couples with dependent children (Qu & Ruth, 2013). Australian families were reported as: valuing independence, compliance, reaching developmental milestones early in verbal skills and social skills, and emotional control in their children (Rogoff, 2003; Winskel, Salehuddin, & Stanbury (2013).
Australia is a nation rich in ethnic diversity. Despite this, it is clear that the Australia
The nature of family life in Australia's has changed over the past 50 years mainly due to advances in technology, changes in gender roles and also because of who has power and authority in todays modern families. As a result of these changes, Australia's society has been impacted in many ways. For example, there has been an increase in antisocial behaviour which affects the way society interacts. Children now have a voice and are encouraged to have opinions and a say in family life leading to better communication in within society and the family. There is now more
Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1
Kelly (2003) is critical of some early literature by Wallerstein and Blakeslee (1989), arguing that these were biased and influenced public perception, with a ‘persistent emphasis on pathology’ (Kelly 2003, p 240). Other studies on divorce are more robust and ‘challenged the belief that divorce alone was the cause of children’s poor well being’ Kelly (2003 p.240) citing Cherlin et al (1991). This may account for the greater acceptance of the variety of modern families. Because divorce is so common, children no longer wish to be typecast as ‘children of divorce’ (Flowerdew & Neale, 2003, p. 158). It is these stigmas that could have negative connotations for the child as well as the parent; these stigmas in themselves may prevent children from adjusting if they feel that they are being judged.