Thesis on "Divorce of Parents Harms Their Children"

Thesis 7 pages (1982 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Divorce of Parents Harms Their Children

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005, there were 2,230,000 marriages, in America. The marriage rate, in the United States, was 7.5 per 1,000 total population. However, the divorce rate, that same year, was 3.6 per 1,000 total population ("Marriage & divorce," 2009). Although this rate has declined over the last fifteen years ("Divorce rates by state," 2005), the disturbingly high percentage of marriages that fail brings about the question of the ramifications of this trend -- specifically how it affects the children involved in the dissolving marriage. This paper theorizes that, in most cases, the long-term well-being of children is harmed by parents who divorce.

Divorce of Parents Harms Their Children

Introduction:

According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005, there were 2,230,000 marriages, in America. The marriage rate, in the United States, was 7.5 per 1,000 total population. However, the divorce rate, that same year, was 3.6 per 1,000 total population ("Marriage & divorce," 2009). Although this rate has declined over the last fifteen years ("Divorce rates by state," 2005), the disturbingly high percentage of marriages that fail brings about the question of the ramifications of this trend -- specifically how it affects the children involved in the dissolving marriage. This paper theorizes that, in most cases, the long-term well-being of children is harmed by parents who divorce.

Divorce: A Critical Life Experience for Children:

According to Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009) divorce is one of the experiences considered to be critical in regards to mental health, for children and adolescents. During the divorce process, one of the parents leaves the family home. This parent is often the father who provides emotional support, assistance, protection, supervision, and guidance to the children. For this reason, divorce is viewed as a significant life experience that creates difficulty in psychological development and adjustment. Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali further surmise that children of divorced parents are more prone to experiencing problems in areas including: academic achievement, psychological adjustment, self-concept development, and social adjustment, when compared to children who have had a continuous intact two-parent family. For these reasons, divorce is a critical life experience, made up of a long-process as opposed to a singular, large event (Heatherington, 1979) for children.

Life Satisfaction Effects on Children of Divorced Parents:

One of the psychological variables that can be negatively impacted by parental divorce is life satisfaction. As noted by Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009), "Life satisfaction forms the cognitive component of the concept of subjective well-being, which is also used as synonymous with happiness in the field of positive psychology." As such, there is an emotional dimension to subjective well-being. This is constituted by both positive and negative feelings as well as having a cognitive dimension, known as life satisfaction.

Life satisfaction is the evaluation and cognitive judgment that a person makes about his or her own life. There are a number of factors, according to previous studies, that have been shown to affect life satisfaction, including: positive parental attitudes, parental attachment, a family's socioeconomic status, and a child's positive relationships with their parents (as cited by Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali, 2009). Citing numerous studies, Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali conclude that both global life satisfaction, as well as global well being, is significantly lower in children from separated families, than those children who come from continuously intact two-parent families. There are several reasons for this phenomenon.

The psychological well being of a child is often threatened by a variety of stressful events that occur due to parental divorce. The first stressful event that the child encounters is often one parent leaving the home. In addition, there is often exposure, for the child, to continuing interparental conflict and discord, despite the separation and eventual divorce. Children of divorced parents are subjected to parental distress. They may move to a new home, even a new city, be forced to change schools, and often experience a decline in economic resources (Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali, 2009). All of these factors equate to marital dissolution having a detrimental impact on children.

Loneliness in Children of Divorced Parents:

One of the more common emotional states, of children, that result from parental divorce is loneliness. According to Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009),

Loneliness is defined as the disturbing experience which emerges when insufficiencies in quality and quantity are perceived in an individual's social relationships, in other words, loneliness is the subjective discrepancy between the level that is attained and the level that one aspires to attain in social relationships.

The effectiveness and communication between children and their parents is directly related to loneliness.

Divorce leads to a variety of changes in the family structure, as well as relationship patterns, amongst family members. This disruption in family structure can be expected to also negatively affect the effectiveness of these familial relationships. Citing Guttmann and Rosenberg, Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009) note that children of divorced parents often feel less closeness to their fathers. The authors further cite Amato in his research that concluded that children of divorced parents perceive less support from their father, as well as having more conflicts with their siblings, and also perceive a significantly reduced familial cohesion, when compared to children with two continuously intact parents.

These changes in the family structure, due to divorce, negatively affects the quality of the parent-child relationship. This increases the risk of straining emotional ties between the children and the parents. Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009) state that it has been found that children of divorced parents experience increased feelings of rejection, due to this emotional distance between themselves and their parents. This often results in an increased feeling of loneliness, for these children.

Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali's (2009) Research on Loneliness and Life Satisfaction Differences in Divorced and Non-Divorced Children:

Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali (2009) sought to definitively answer whether or not loneliness and life satisfaction are negatively affected by marital dissolution. The researchers' study group was comprised of 836 students who attended 19 different high schools. Three hundred eighty-three of the participants had divorced parents. Four hundred fifty-three of the students had intact parents.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale was used to determine life satisfaction. This scale allows participants to note their personal subjective evaluation of their own life, while measuring global life satisfaction. The UCLA-R Loneliness Scale was used to measure loneliness levels. A personal information form was used to gather information regarding independent variables, including: parental divorce/living together, gender, grade, number of siblings, residential parent, frequency of contact with non-residential parent, and the child's age at the time of divorce (Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali, 2009) .

The findings for Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali's (2009) research were conclusive. The effect of parental divorce among adolescents on both loneliness and life satisfaction were significant. Loneliness levels among adolescents with divorced parents was higher than those with non-divorced parents. Also, their study found that global life satisfaction levels among adolescents of divorced parents was also significantly lower than those with intact families. In addition, other independent variables did not have a significant impact on loneliness levels or global life satisfaction.

There were no correlation between gender or number of siblings and loneliness or global life satisfaction, according to Civitci, Civitci, and Fiyakali's (2009) findings. Loneliness and global life satisfaction were also not impacted by current age, age at time of the divorce, or who the residential parent was. Lastly, contact frequency with the non-residential parent did not positively affect loneliness or global life satisfaction either.

The Effects of Parental Divorce on the General Well-Being of Children:

Amato and Keith (1991) surmise that the family is the key social institution for children in providing nurturant socialization. For this reason, there are negative effects of divorce, that can be attributed to socialization deficits, from a child growing up with one parent rather than two parents. As the authors note, "this perspective is based on a straightforward principle: If parents are important resources for children's development, then, all things being equal, two parents should be better than one."

The dissolution of a marriage typically is associated with a decrease in both the quantity and quality of the contact between the children and the noncustodial parent. In addition, due to the economic restraints that come with divorce, many custodial parents find themselves having to join the labor force. As such, custodial parents then find a reduction in time and energy that they can devote to their children. This, according to Amato and Keith (1991), results in a decrease in parental attention, help and supervision of children with divorced parents. With this decrease comes an associated increase in the likelihood of problems, including: academic failure, lowered self-esteem, and increased incidences of misbehavior. The lack of parental models in the household has the additional effect of inadequate learning of social skills. These include: negotiating, cooperating, and compromising and are all necessary for success in the larger world.

Economic impact is also a significant factor in the general well-being… READ MORE

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