Parental Divorce and the Well-Being of Children - Research Paper Example

 Abstract This research focuses on the effects of divorce on preschool children, particularly in the context of their emotional stability. Specifically, this research delves on the aspects of depression, anger, and fear as experienced by preschoolers as they cope with the divorce of their parents. To achieve its purpose, this research gathers relevant information from various peer-reviewed journals, books, newspaper articles and website contents that are relevant to the topic. Specifically, this study examines the empirical studies of eight journal articles concerning the plight of preschoolers coping with the limiting effects of divorce, such as depression, anger and fear. The research is purely descriptive wherein most of the data are derived from previous empirical researches. Additionally, this research looks into the impact of divorce on educational performance of preschoolers. The results of this study show that divorce greatly affects the emotional well-being of children, particularly in the way they perceive their parents and the world, in general. Thus, this research found out that there is a considerable gap between the performance of preschoolers with two parents attending to them and those whose parents are divorced. 1.0 Introduction Today, the increasing trend of divorce rate poses a threat to the happy-ever-after concept of marriage wherein newly-wed couples set out in making little Susan and adorable Jake. However, as more people support the idea that mistakes may also be made even in their decisions to marry, divorce papers pile up in courts, and more children grow up as half orphans, seeing only the parent who has won their custody. In this historical perspective, Emery (1999) mentions that the divorce trend in the U.S. is attributable to different social factors, which include the age of marriage, educational attainment of either, or both parents, heightened assertion of women’s rights, and income (p. 14). Relatively, the American society, in the year 2000, saw the dissolution of millions of marital bonds of unhappy, married couples, which lead to more children experiencing the devastating, emotional effects of coping with their parents’ divorce (Amato, 2001, p. 355). Lots of studies were made with regard to the effect of divorce towards children, and some of them have shown, whether explicitly or implicitly, that children of divorce exhibit a tendency, whether separate or individual cases, of depression, anger and fear (Ablow, Measelle, P. A. Cowan, & C. P. Cowan, 2009; Amato & Keith, 1991; Amato, 2001; K. D. Pruett & M. K. Pruett, 1999; Wadsworth & Maclean, 1986). Accordingly, this study aims to identify how such tendencies affect the emotional development and stability of preschoolers, knowing that depression creates negative emotional impact, anger influences thoughts, and fear results to other negative tendencies (Buss, 2011, p. 805; Edwards, 1987 as cited in Amato & Keith, 1991, p. 26; Goldberg, 2006, p. 1341; Engle, Castle, & Menon, 1996, p. 622). To know the impact of depression, anger and fear to children of divorce is vital in deliberating whether divorce is detrimental to a family. Relatively, although society has become more acquainted and open-minded toward the idea of divorce, this research is still relevant in the academic world wherein children of divorce manifest signs of emotional instability due to their parent’s divorce. 2.0 Literature Review Amato (2001) had been firm in proving that children of divorce since the 1950s up to the modern times have the tendency to acquire a significantly low “well-being” that hampers their ability to achieve, adjust, accept and relate to other people, events and things (p. 355). Amato and Keith (1991) have also mentioned various theories on the effect of divorce to the lives of such children (pp. 26-27). When studies about family problems have begun, Wadsworth and Maclean (1986) were unskeptical in claiming that divorce, as one of the problems, was a desirable subject of study since there is an overwhelming longing to end it and an aspiration to discover “preventive” strategies in order to cope from it (p. 145). Although the study was not directly focused on divorce and other “marital” conflicts, Ablow, Measelle, P. A. Cowan, and C. P. Cowan (2009) were the ones who have found a possible link between family problems and the child’s ability to adjust in such problems. Depression, anger and fear were among the apparent primary feelings of children before finally knowing their ways of adjusting (p. 486). K. D. Pruett and M. K. Pruett (1999), through interviewing toddlers ageing seven years old and below with divorced parents, also cited that divorce had affected the adjustment mechanisms of children (p. 1544). Among the three extensive feelings that usually occur in different intensity, depending on what stage of the person’s life was he/she able to experience such emotions, depression is the most extensive. It can actually be derived from having fears or being constantly angry (Kagan, 1994 as cited in Buss, 2011, p. 804; Luthar, 1991 as cited in Engle, Castle, & Menon, 1996, p. 622). According to Goldberg (2006), it has to do mostly with females than males who were rather born from depressed parents, as well as with how parents exposed their children to an overly depressing “environment,” such as maltreatment during childhood (p. 1341). Anger, on the other hand, is an effect of consistently being resilient to something that has to be coped, such as coping with a family of both divorced parents (Engle, Castle, & Menon, 1996, p. 621). Sometimes, it is the child’s way of blaming others, his/her parents and even the divorce lawyer, to what had happened (K. D. Pruett, and M. K. Pruett, 1999, p. 1548). Fear, as what children of divorce would normally feel, is mostly due to kid’s feeling of vulnerability wherein he/she does not fairly understand what had just happened to his/her respective family, particularly during court hearings and custody wars that come along with the filing a divorce (Ablow, Measelle, P. A. Cowan, & C. P. Cowan, 2009, p. 485; Engle, Castle, & Menon, 1996, p. 622; K. D. Pruett, and M. K. Pruett, 1999, p. 1549; Karevold, Roysamb, Ystrom, & Mathiesen, 2009, p. 1052). With both anger and fear, a person undergoing a recovery from a resulting divorce of parents is also, most likely, depressed. A depressed kid can either continue his life being depressed or indulge in his/her depressive state, which may result to poor academic performance (Horowitz & Garber, 2006, p. 401). Studies about divorce were relevant to prove that depression, anger and fear are present within the child’s psychological system during his/her adapting periods in regard to his/her parent’s divorce. They have clearly showed how children tend to cope, either consciously or unconsciously. To know how depression, anger and fear will manifest in the attitudes of children with divorced parents is also important for further analysis on the different emotions they will and are trying to exhibit. All points being mentioned in the literature review are relevant in the current study since they will all lead the researchers to determine in the end the impact of such feelings to children of divorce. 3.0 Hypothesis and Questions This study hopes to determine the impact of depression, anger, and fear on preschool children of divorced parents in the U.S. Accordingly, the following hypothesis are made before carrying out the succeeding parts of this research: a. Knowing that depression, anger, and fear are all negative emotions, the researchers assume that the impacts of such feelings are negative, and may well be harmful to preschool children of divorce. b. Since the event happened in the early and formative years of the child, the researchers also assume that the effects of unpleasant feelings attributable to divorce will also affect the adult life of those children. Aside from the two main hypotheses mentioned previously, this study also hopes to address the following questions: a. What is the most visible sign that children of divorce have manifested as to being depressed, angry, and fearful? b. What do parents perceive their children will be when these children grow up? Show the basis of the assumption. 4.0 Methodology The design of this study is qualitative since only worded descriptions, with less numerical data, are needed to arrive at the main point of the study. Using the ideas from related literatures, the researchers are to conduct an observation among preschoolers in the nearby learning center, where preschool children are first identified to have come from parents who had gone through a divorce, currently processing their divorce, or if possible, have future plans in getting a divorce. To do this, researchers are to approach someone who might be of help in retrieving personal data of the children, or if not, researchers are to conduct a brief interview from parents of the said center, asking them of the current status of their marriage. This is to be done through approaching the parents during the most favorable time. After selecting the children who are qualified for the study, researchers are to have a daily observation of the behaviors being manifested before, during and after preschool sessions. A record of daily observations is to be made by the researchers. Observation will last as long as there are enough sufficient data. By the end of the conducted observation, another survey, in the form of the checklist, will be given to the same parents identified in the first survey to answer questions related to the children’s behavior at home, to further prove whether the child is constantly showing feelings of depression, anger and fear. 5.0 Expected Results Several authors, which include Cummings and Davies (1994), Erel and Burman (1995), Fosco and Grych (2007), Grych and Fincham (1990), Jouriles, Spiller, Stephens, McDonald, and Swank (2000) and McDonald and Grych (2006) were mentioned by Ablow, Measelle, P. A. Cowan, and C. P. Cowan (2009) as proponents of studies concerning conflicts between parents and their children’s behavioral problems (p. 485). However, only a few have dealt with the connection between conflicts of parents and their children’s way to adapt to such conflicting situations. Having conducted a similar research, which is trying to find a connection between family problems including divorce and the consequent tendency of children to adjust efficiently to divorce-related problems, Ablow, Measelle, P. A. Cowan, & C. P. Cowan (2009) emphasized that the appraisals of depressed, angry and fearful feelings are all part of their “behavioral development” (p. 497). K. D. Pruett and M. K. Pruett (1999) have also pointed out that these young ones, although perceived by the society as too young to be involved in family problems, already have something to say and feel about what is happening within their respective families (p. 1544). Knowing that it is normal for children of divorce to exhibit depression, anger and fear, it is necessary to conduct an interview from their parents in order to have initial findings on the impact of these feelings toward the children since there have been limited views on the impacts. 6.0 Study Limitation Primarily, the data gathered throughout this study is limited only to what were gathered from parents and concerned individuals concerning the attitudes of the kids. Further, during the preparation of this research, the researchers realized that recording the manifestations of anger, depression and fear in the kid’s adult life require more time, considering that the researchers will have to follow the life of the children as they mature. In this way, the researchers will have a concrete and quantifiable data on how those children cope with the emotional effects of their parent’s divorce. In this case, it is likely that this research will not be reliable enough in providing the effects of depression, anger, and fear in the children’s adult life. The researchers will have to wait until the selected respondents will reach their adulthood before recording those aspects. References Ablow, J. C., Measelle, J. R., Cowan, P. A., & Cowan, C. P. (2009). Linking marital conflict and children’s adjustment: The role of young children’s perceptions. Journal of Family Psychology, 23(4), 485-499. Amato, P. R. (2001). Children of Divorce in the 1990s: An update of the Amato and Keith (1991) meta-analysis. Journal of Family Psychology, 15(3), 355-370. Amato, P. R., & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and the well-being of children. Psychological Bulletin, 110(1), 26-46. Buss, K. A. (2011). Which fearful toddlers should we worry about? Context, fear regulation, and anxiety risk. Developmental Psychology, 47(3), 804-819. Engle, P. L., Castle, S., & Menon, P. (1996). Child development: Vulnerability and resilience. Social Science & Medicine, 43(5), 621-635. Emery, R. E. (1999). Marriage, divorce, and children’s adjustment (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Goldberg, D. (2006). The aetiology of depression. Psychological Medicine, 36(10), 1341-1347. Horowitz, J. L., & Garber, J. (2006). The prevention of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(3), 401-415. Karevold, E., Roysamb, E., Ystrom, E., & Mathiesen, K. S. (2009). Predictors and pathways from infancy to symptoms of anxiety and depression in early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 45(4), 1051-1060. Pruett, K. D., & Pruett, M. K. (1999). ‘Only God decides’: Young children’s perceptions of divorce and the legal system. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(12), 1544-1550. Wadsworth, M. E. J., & Maclean, M. (1986). Parent’s divorce and children’s life chances. Children and Youth Services Review, 8(2), 145-159. Read More