How can divorce influence in children's behavior - Research Paper Example

Running Head: DIVORCE AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOR How can Divorce influence in Children's Behavior? Introduction Divorce rates have increased considerably in the United States over the past four decades. Currently, about half of all first marriages in the United States end in divorce. Because approximately 60% of divorces occur in families with children, over one million children experience the divorce of their parents each year in the United States (Amato, 2001). As a result, it has become increasingly important to understand the specific effects of divorce on children. Divorce is associated with numerous negative social, emotional, legal, and economic consequences. The stresses and disruptions in family functioning that accompany the divorce process can lead to emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. For example, after divorce some adults may experience internalizing problems such as depression, loneliness, and anxiety, and. externalizing problems such as increased alcohol abuse (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002) Children of Divorce Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan (1999) completed a landmark study suggesting that children who have happily married parents show fewer problems and a greater level of well being than children who have divorced parents. Parental divorce is a major life stressor and is thought to be a process that can cause long term psychological and emotional damage to children (Koel, Clark, Straus, Whitney and Hauser, 1994). There is some debate about the age at which a child may be most affected by the divorce of his or her parents. Shaw (1991) and Pagani et al. (1997) suggest that very young children are most vulnerable to the negative effects of parental separation and those under the age of 6 show more adjustment difficulties, lower self esteem and more behavioral problems than older children who experience the divorce of their parents. Wallerstein and Blakeslee (1989) found that children aged between two and five years old were extremely upset, frightened, clingy and confused at the time of their parents divorce. They suggested that these children showed regressed behavior during and after the experience and the youngest children had the most separation anxiety, nightmares and bedwetting. However, when the same children were assessed again five years later in this study, they showed few of these negative effects, suggesting that perhaps negative impacts were short term in nature. In contrast, Bowlby (1969) suggested that very young children would be less impacted by parental divorce, because he thought they had not yet developed a strong relationship with their parents and they would not be affected by the marital disruption. Amato and Keith's (1991) meta-analysis also found that younger children were actually less affected by their parent's divorce when compared with older children. However Clark-Stewart et al. (2000) criticized Amato and Keith (1991) stating that their results were not accurate, because the ages of the children were recorded at the time of their assessment, rather than the actual time the divorce took place. Because of this discrepancy, results may have been distorted if immediate strong effects become weaker over time. Many other studies support the hypothesis that young children are negatively impacted by the divorce of their parents. Research indicates that young children show an increased fear of abandonment by the remaining parent, increased tearfulness, increased clinging behavior, poorer communication and less positive feelings within the parent ­child relationship (Runyon and Jackson, 1988). These negative effects may depend on a number of variables, including the pre-divorce environment, previous child adjustment, the nature of the relationship between parents after the divorce, the age of the child at time of divorce, socio-economic changes after the divorce, the coping skills of the child and available family resources (Amato and Keith, 1991). But "regardless of circumstances many children experience problems in the months immediately after parental divorce" (Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan 1999, p.130). Children who have experienced the divorce of their parents have been found to exhibit externalizing and internalizing negative behaviors. The externalizing behaviors include increased anti-social activity, aggressiveness, disobedience, diminished self regulation, poor academic performance, increased absenteeism, somatic complaints, sleep disturbances and enuresis (Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Shaw (1991) suggests that if behavioral problems occur at school and at home during and after parental divorce, this may be an attempt by the child to cope with changes to the family system. The internalizing effects of divorce may manifest in the child as symptoms of anxiety, depression, difficulties in social relationships, fear, grief, hyper-alertness and decreased trust (Hetheringon & Kelly, 2002). Runyon and Jackson (1988) suggest that most children are able to overcome the traumatic experience of parental divorce, but other research indicates that there are many long term effects that can be seen years after the event (Kurtz and Derevensky, 1993). Fulton (1979) noted that most divorced couples did believe that their children had been negatively impacted by their separation and that their own skill as parents had also declined. Hetherington, Cox and Cox (1979) noted that the households of divorced parents were more disorganized than intact homes, due to the increased difficulties associated with financial burden, relocation, visitation, custody battles and ongoing conflict. Such disorganization could further exacerbate the negative effects of divorce on the child. Meta-Analyses Amato and Keith (1991, 2000) conducted two meta-analyses examining the impact of parental divorce on children. These analyses are highly respected. In 1991 Amato and Keith looked at 92 studies completed between the 1950's and the 1980's, comparing families that were divorced and families that remained intact. They found children from divorced families scored significantly lower on measures of psychological well being. Children with divorced parents scored significantly lower on measures of academic achievement, psychological adjustment, self esteem, self concept and they had a poorer quality of relationships with peers and parents, when compared with children from intact families. However Amato and Keith found that the effect sizes were smaller in studies from 1970's and 1980's when compared to those from the 1950's and 1960's. They attribute these effect size differences to possible advances in methodology and perhaps the increasing acceptance of divorce in society. In addition, they thought children from divorced families may have received psychological services at school in the 1970's and 1980's, assisting them in coping with the divorce and this may account for the smaller effect sizes. In (2001) Amato updated his (1991) meta-analysis and included 67 additional studies conducted between 1990 and 1999, examining the impact of divorce on children. Amato et al. (2001) expected that studies from the 1990's would show smaller effect sizes, due to more sophisticated methodology. However, this was not the case when these studies were compared to those from earlier decades. Across most outcome studies, effect sizes were similar and in fact increasing methodological controls actually expanded differences in effect sizes between the decades. They attempt to explain these findings, suggesting that the nature of divorce has changed. Increasingly, couples tend to divorce when there is relatively low or moderate conflict between them, rather than the extreme conflict and dissatisfaction that was reported in earlier studies. "Low discord marriages that end in divorce appear to be especially distressing to children and are associated with long term problems in adjustment and wellbeing." (p.365). Therefore, despite the availability of school based therapy, parenting classes for divorcing parents and divorce mediation, these results suggest that the negative impact of parental divorce on the wellbeing of children is increasing. Amato et al. (2001) admit that they do not have direct evidence to support this notion and suggest more research is needed to investigate the trend further. In contrast, several research studies have shown that divorce which includes high conflict is associated with more negative outcomes for children (Shaw, 1991; Kurtz and Derevensky, 1993). Longitudinal Studies Investigating the Effects of Parental Divorce on Children Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee (2000) followed 100 children in their research study, beginning in the 1970's. They interviewed both parents and the children every 5 years for 25 years. 59 families were divorced, 44 were intact. They found that some children from divorced families were affected severely by the divorce and the event had an intense lifetime impact upon them. They found that many had ongoing fears about committed relationships and their own marriage outcomes. In contrast to the parents, who suffered pain and distress due to the divorce conflict for only approximately 3 years after the event, the children's negative effects lasted for decades. Such negative effects included increased drug and alcohol abuse, sexual activity beginning at an earlier age, decreased academic achievement, difficulty forming close personal relationships and increased parentification. Jaccoby (2002) criticized the conclusions of Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee (2000), stating that they did not obtain a great enough number of subjects and the subjects they did use were uniformly white and middle class. Jaccoby (2002) also indicated that Wallerstein, Lewis and Blakeslee (2000) were unable to determine whether the effects found in their study were caused by the divorce, or by the problems existing within the families before the divorce. In addition Jaccoby (2002) suggests that Wallerstein in particular used far too much of her own subjective experience in interpreting her results. However, the study provided some fascinating insights about the impact of divorce on children and sparked a fervent debate among researchers. Conclusion A review of the literature suggests that there is great diversity of findings regarding how children respond to the divorce of their parents. Despite the conflicting results and inconsistent effect sizes, it seems clear that some children are affected in negative ways, both in the short and the long term. The likelihood of negative outcomes for the child depends on a variety of factors including individual characteristics and resilience of the child, coupled with pre and post divorce experiences. Some may show few long term effects. For some, problems may decrease as they grow older. Others may experience long term behavioral problems such as anger and aggression, impaired social and peer relationships, anxiety and depression, poor mental health, difficulties in adult relationship formation, economic disadvantages, increased parentification of the child, insecure attachments, higher incidence of their own divorce in adulthood and premature mortality. References Amato, P. R., & Booth, A. (2001). Consequences of Parental Divorce and Marital Unhappiness for Adult Well-Being. Social Forces. March, 69(3), 895-914. Amato, P. R., & Keith, B. (1991a). Parental Divorce and the Wellbeing of Children: A Meta Analysis. Psychological Bulletin. 110, 26-46. Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss -Attachment. London: Hogarth Press. Clarke-Stewart, A.K., Vandell, D. L., McCamey, K., Owen, M. T. & Booth, C. (2000). The Effects of Parental Separation and Divorce on Very Young Children. Journal of Family Psychology. 14(1), 304-326. Fulton, J. A. (1979). Parental Reports of Children's Past Divorce Adjustment. Journal of Social Issues. 35(4), 126-139. Hetherington, E. M. & Kelly, J. (2002). For Better or for Worse; Divorce Reconsidered. New York, W. W. Norton. Hetherington, E. M. & Stanley-Hagan, M. (1999). The Adjustment of Children with Divorced Parents: A Risk and Resiliency Perspective. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Vol. 40, No.1, 139-140. Hetherington, E. M., Cox, M. & Cox, M. (1979). Long Term Effects of Divorce and Remarriage on the Adjustment of Children. Journal of the American Academy of Psychology. 24 (5),518-530 Jaccoby, S. (2002). Half at Ease in Splitsville. New York Times Book Review. May. Koel, A., Clark, S. c., Straus, R. B., Whitney, R. R., & Hauser, B. B. (1994). Patterns of Re-litigation in the Post Divorce Family. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 56,265-277. Kurtz, L., & Derevensky, J. L. (1993). The Effects of Divorce on Perceived Self­ Efficacy and Behavioral Control in Elementary School Children. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage. 20 (3/4), 75-94. Pagani, L., Boulerice, 8., Tremblay, R. E. & Vitaro, F. (1997). Behavioral Development in Children of Divorce and Remarriage. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Sciences. 38, 769-781. Runyon, N. & Jackson, P. L. (1988). Divorce: It's Impact on Children. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. 24 (3/4) 101-105. Shaw, D. S., (1991) The Effects of Divorce on Children's Adjustment: Review and Implications. Behavior Modification. 15 (4),456-485. Wallerstein, J. S. & Blakeslee, S. (1989). Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a decade after divorce. New York. Ticknor & Fields. Wallerstein, J. S., Lewis, J. & Blakeslee, S. (2000). The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: The 25 Year Landmark Study. New York, Hyperion. Read More