Divorce and After Life for Children - Research Proposal Example

DIVORCE AND AFTER LIFE FOR CHILDREN By: Course: Tutor: University: October 21st, 2015 Table of contents Summary…………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Background of the study……………………………………………………………………. 4 Literature review……………………………………………………………………………. 4-6 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………….. 6-7 References………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 Summary Divorce is a stressful ordeal to the whole family especially on the young ones. At any particular age, children feel the uncertainty and anger at the prospect of their parents going separate ways. It is the work of the parent to make the whole process have a little impact on their children. However, The National Association of School Psychologists takes the responsibility of helping children adjust and above all cope with divorce in a more professional way. Children often exhibit psychological and social problem that require attention from organizations. Background and significance It is normal for any parent to be surrounded by uncertainty of offering their children support through separation or divorce. This is usually seen as unchartered territory but if things are sorted out well, it is usually easier to navigate the affected children from it (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 08). This will make the children feel confident, loved and strong. There are many ways that can help children cope with divorce. The patience, reassurance and above all a listening ear can reduce the tensions as children will be learning on how to cope with the new circumstances. Providing children with a clear routine that they can always rely on is another way of reassuring them that they can always rely on their parents for stability, care and structure. When there is constant working relationship with the divorced partner, it is easier for a parent to help kids avoid stress that often comes with watching parents in constant conflict. The transitional period is always without the measure of hardship and it can minimize the pain of the affected children by successfully making their well-being a top target (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 15). The most difficult part of divorce for both partners is how to break the news to their children. It is recommended that parents should make it a little easier to both themselves and their children: it is done by thorough preparation of how to break down the news (Amato & Booth, 2007, p. 896). If parents anticipate any question that they may found it hard to tackle, it is important for them to deal with their own anxiety before their own time, this is done by a careful plan of what is expected of a parent and this will help them to be well equipped with ways of aiding their children to handle the stressful event in their life. Literature review This research has outlined the effectiveness of support services offered by organization that help children to cope with divorce. This research tries to show how it is important for parents to support their children by helping them to express emotions and to honestly commit to listening to the feelings of divorce or separation without getting defensive. Reassurance is another important aspect in straightening understanding of the little ones and showing them unconditional love. The most important thing that children need to know is that divorce is not their fault but their parents. NASP has committed its relevant resources in seeing that children successful cope with this stressful event (Anisman, 2015). In the United States of America, divorce has diminished the children’s prospect of having a better future in all society’s major institution: Religion, family, government, school and marketplace (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 29). The social and cultural nature of divorce will be nothing less than a cultural revolution. Long ago, the American culture rejected divorce and depicted it as a scandalous event. In the modern world today, divorce culture has been embraced and it is widely celebrated in many countries. Legislations have been put in place to successfully help those interested in filing a divorce. Divorce has been seen to weaken the family and the relationship that exists between children and parents. NASP has helped out in giving conflict management methods which help to diminish the social competence that exists for children (nwbeats.com, 2015). Divorce results in more trouble for these children in future, the children encounter problems in dating, cohabitation and the likelihood of having a divorce later in life. Professor Paul Amato, a professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University stated that divorce leads to disruptions in the relationship between the parent and the child; it has a continued discord between former partners, the loss of emotional support and above all an increase in the number of other negative life event (Amato & Booth, 2007, p. 901). Statistics shows that the number of women that have been divorced is steadily on the rise. Scholars have estimated that number to be 1,000,000 children per year (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 32). Should any individual add those figures by the dissolution of cohabitation of natural parents, the figures would significantly rise. Statistics show that for all the U.S children, as from the figures extracted from the 2009 American Community Survey, it was found out that only 47 percent of children reach the age of 17 in an intact married family (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 35). Divorce impacts children and the community in a number of ways that go on to affect children in their adulthood. Divorce has been seen to diminish the frequency of worship that an individual often possess in worshiping God and shaping one’s thought. When an individual’s thoughts are influenced badly by the effects of stress, an individual is usually shaped by bad character and if not properly handled it shapes and individual’s destiny. Education is also tampered with when parents separate, the children are forced to change schools and transfer to other learning institutions. This unsettles children and makes them lack the sharpness that they had before. When divorce affects the marketplace, household income and individual earning capacity reduces significantly (Wood et al, 2007). If parents don’t handle their children in a right manner, divorce significantly increases the rate of drug abuse which may lead to crime and eventually lead to weaken the children’s health and well-being. The major issues that scholars try to understand is no longer to grasp the ill effects of divorce are but to equip themselves with knowledge on what extent the effects of stress have on children and identify ways that can reverse the intergenerational cycle (Wood et al, 2007). The findings on different scholarly articles show that there are no specific services for adult children of divorce (Anisman, 2015). For instance, a case study of Al and Tipper evaluates in details the cultural context of separating children from marriage institution they are used to. Children that are culprits of divorce are more likely to suffer from low levels of psychological well-being that includes lower happiness and psychological distress. Divorced partners also find it hard to cope on the hard times of the economy because the income that they used to bring together now becomes one income. Research shows that children that leave in a divorced family find it hard to adjust to their standards of living (Fagan & Churchill, 2012, p. 34). In the modern world, divorce has become a phenomenon where by children are forced to have certainty of not only surviving but going through the healing process of their parents separation. Adult children in particular go through a transition period where they find it even harder for them: getting a job, getting married and the desire to have children of their own. Amato finds that when adult children are just about to achieve their independence and called in during the divorce period, children become overwhelmed by the turn of events (Amato & Booth, 2007, p. 905). Adult children may feel more responsible for divorce in later life than the younger crop of children. Research shows that adult children exhibited feelings of confusion especially in a case whereby parents are found out in the act of adultery (Amato & Booth, 2007, p. 905). Wood also found out that a large number of adult children blamed themselves for making their parents stay together for a longer period when one is not happy with one another (Wood et al, 2007). Divorce affects the child in all dimensions especially between the parent and the child. College students from the divorced family are also likely to use violence in solving violence and are aggressive with their friends than those whose parents are not divorced. The findings are more apparent in university students because of the life stages they were undergoing (nwbeats.com, 2015). Adult children in their twenties in the U.S expressed abandonment when they realized that their parents were divorcing (Marie, 2010). After the divorce, parents often leave normal and move on with their lives unlike their children who feel unforgotten and not cared for. Divorce has led to disruptions in the relationship between parents and their children. It has also brought about continued discord between former spouses, economic hardship and the increased number of negative life events. The society has often focused on the needs of the young children during divorce and they have been provided with many services that ranges from groups to individual therapies. With divorce turning out to occur in later life, the government should put more emphasis on the needs of the adult children that are affected by this stressful event. Therefore the research question for this study is: What support services and remedies are available to adult children whose parents divorced? Aims and objectives This study aims to identify the risk factors that are brought about by divorce. It seeks to show how the adult child copes during the divorce period and how dependent they are on the risk and the process involved in the family. It aims to identify if the individual factors of the individuals have the greatest impact on adjusting to gender, race and coping strategies. It remains to be seen that children from families that are constantly in conflict are more advantaged from the divorce of their parents and this has presented parents with a chance for a better life (Marie, 2010). Research shows that adult children have the ability to undergo all stressful events involved when their parents’divorce (Wood et al, 2007). However, children are always faced with an uphill task which they have never come across before in their lives, for instance, getting a job. Divorce has negative factors that are usually high and should be addressed in a manner that serves all affected parties. It is usually important for researchers to find out the services which adult children are given and if they meet the needs. Methodology Research design A systematic review was the most appropriate for this study; they are the literature reviews that are purely based on scientific methods that aim to limit any error, appraising, identification and synthesize studies that are relevant to tackle any particular question (Marie, 2010). Systematic review give evidence that is purely based on information that support and advance the practice, it helps to recognize evolving and different development and gaps. Selection criteria There were different criteria that were considered with the selection methodology. The article to be used is supposed to be an academic journal, and other requirement was that the article must be related to the effects of divorce on children in the later life. For the purpose of this research proposal, a child was considered to be a person between the age of 8 years to 16 while an adult child was considered to be 17 years and above (Amato & Booth, 2007, p.910). The research study also looks at how first marriages ended up in divorce. The major aim was to look out for articles that critically evaluated professional services that were used to help children cope with the divorce after life. In this type of study, there were no use of participants but research that was done in previous years was critically analyzed using selected criteria. Search strategies used In obtaining information, electronic databases were used. The databases include; Family Studies Abstract, Social work abstracts and the Academic search Engines using the terms “divorce” and “children”. The study used both quantitative and qualitative way of data collection. Data analysis Data analysis techniques were adapted from Anisman (2015) and applied in the study. The data analysis was broken down into three major categories: Organization of studies into logical sequence, critically analyzing the findings from almost each category and above all synthesizing the findings in almost all included study. Systematic review is the best method to use in this kind of study; it analyzes the research to the particular research question. It produces specific results from the selected criteria hence giving a little room for errors. The systematic review process is however prone to biasness. It at times overlooks at the non-significant results that are usually reported in single studies.Bottom line, systematic review with defined questions provide direct answers to the defined question hence giving no room for further research on any other findings on the related topic (Wood et al, 2007). References Amato, P. and Booth, A. (1991). Consequences of Parental Divorce and Marital Unhappiness for Adult Well-Being. Social Forces, 69(3), pp.895-914. Anisman-Reiner, V. (2015). Adult Children of Divorce. [online] Suite. Available at: https://suite.io/victoria-anisman-reiner/7zt280 [Accessed 21 Oct. 2015]. Fagan, P. and Churchill, A. (2012). The Effects of Divorce on Children. 1st ed. [ebook] pp.1-47. Available at: http://downloads.frc.org [Accessed 20 Oct. 2015]. Marie, S. (2010). Risk and Resilience in Children Coping with Parental Divorce. [online] DUJS Online. Available at: http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/spring-2010/risk-and-resilience-in-children-coping-with- parental-divorce#. ViepdeyZGMs [Accessed 21 Oct. 2015]. Nwbeats.com, (2015). Watch video clips "Single Father Parenting" (Effects of divorce on children) online for free - nwBeats.com. [online] Available at: http://nwbeats.com/clip/bSIGkvJIV2c [Accessed 21 Oct. 2015]. Wood, R., Goesling, B. and Avellar, S. (2007). The Effects of Marriage on Health:. [online] ASPE. Available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/effects-marriage-health [Accessed 20 Oct. 2015]. Read More