The Effects of Divorce on Children; Specifically Focusing on Age and Gender

The Effects of Divorce on Children; specifically focusing on age and gender

When one is looking at divorce and its affects, many different approaches can be taken, and many different ideas can be thought of. Within the secondary research, focus is kept on the affects of divorce, which type is worse, methods of coping and a small focus on gender. The primary research focuses mainly on what role gender plays in a child’s adaptation of their parent’s divorce, gender of the child, gender of most exposure, and gender of primary care-giving parent. There were two separate hypothesis’ that were being proved during the entire research process; one for the secondary research and one for primary. The first hypothesis, for the secondary research was the prediction of age, and how the younger the child is, the greater the affects would be, as they are less likely to be really understand what is going. It was predicted that the more involvement both parents have with the child the better off everyone involved will be. A more gender focus and precise hypothesis was researched for the primary research; a child of divorce will grow apart from their opposite-sex parent, thus grow to resent the opposite sex entirely.

Wayne Parker came up with four rules for divorcing parents to follow, to help their children deal; 1. Both parents must be involved. 2. Divorcing parents must respect one another. 3. Keep a routine and finally 4. Get help when needed. It is believed that the first point is the most important, the involvement and support of the parents are crucial. Through surveys, it was established that no participant felt as through they did not get enough support at home; 13% of males were unsure, but no one thought they were did not get enough support. 74% of males thought that they were getting lots of support and home, while only 47% of females said the same (the remaining 53% said they were getting some). It is apparent that females take the issue of divorce harder than males, and have a longer adjustment period.

“Boys raised by men tend to be less aggressive than boys raised by solely their mother. They have few emotional problems… Girls raised with mothers tend to more be responsible and mature than girls raised by fathers” (Hughes & Scherer, 2003). Through primary research, it was found that the majority of both sexes had better relationships with their same sex parent (40% of boys had a better relationship with their father, while 67% of girls had a better relationship with their mothers). If the right decision is made when choosing where to live, hopefully such aggression and emotional fluctuations can be prevented. This also stresses the importance of both parents in a child’s life; they need a mother and father figure present.

“Children are often the innocent bystanders in a divorce situation. And no matter how justified the reason for the divorce, parents need to understand their responsibility to minimize the impact on them and make this major change in their lives as easy as is humanly possible.” (Parker, 2005). The attention needs to be brought to divorce and children. Because divorce is such a common activity, it is accepted by society as such. Society as a whole is seeing the events for face value and not looking deeper. However, that’s what the problem is; when one looks deeper and one sees all affected by a divorce, then they can see who is really troubled by this issue which of course turns out to be the children of the divorcing individuals.

Hughes & Scherer, 2003 said that 75%-80% of children, adolescence and teenagers of divorce fall between the 1-2 year adjustment period. This is proven by the primary research gathered. 0%, and absolutely no one said that they do not have a healthy relationship with a member of the opposite sex, in fact the majority said that they have many. It is hard to put an official adjustment period on something as impactful as a child’s parent’s divorce. Thus these are simply guide lines that have seemed to be useful or accurate in the past.

While the harvesting of primary research was being conducted, a different focus was being taken; the aspect of gender and affects was not being taken into consideration. Were