Can someone finish my research prompt for me. I already started it and did a little over 1000 words, and the rough draft of 2000 words needs to be done tomm. Its about how divorce of parents affects a childs mental helath

Hayden Feinberg

March 6 2018

ENC2135

Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography

Does divorce of parents affect a child’s mental health?

Divorce affects a child’s mental health because divorce leads to stress in many factors of the parent’s and child’s life , and this stress can affect a child’s psychological development, which leads to mental health depletion.

Amato, Paul R., and Bruce Keith. “Parental Divorce and the Well-Being of Children: A Meta-Analysis.” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 110, no. 1, 1991, pp. 26–46. PsycNET, doi:10.1037//0033-2909.110.1.26.

This breaks down components of family conflict with a combination of various sources that state interparental conflict (a main cause of divorce and often continuing occurrence post-divorce) has negative effects on psychological adjustment of children, and this also stresses parents,which affects their parenting abilities, causing psychological issues for children. My argument is that the mental health of children of divorced parents is negatively affected by the divorce, and this supports that through evidence of many effects (Divorce leads to interparental conflict, which leads to stress, which leads to worse parenting, which leads to sacrificed mental health in children). I can use this source in a part in the burden of proof.

Amato, Paul R., and Juliana M. Sobolewski. “The Effects of Divorce and Marital Discord on Adult Children's Psychological Well-Being.” American Sociological Review, vol. 66, no. 6, 2001, pp. 900–921. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3088878.

Amato and Sobolewski demonstrate through a correlational longitudinal study using a model that looks at self-esteem, distress, satisfaction, and happiness in adults in relation to parental situations during childhood that the event of parental divorce during a person’s childhood can lead to lowered psychological wellbeing in the person’s adulthood. This provides evidence for my argument that psychological wellbeing of a child is negatively affected by divorce not only during childhood, but also into adulthood showing a long-term effect. I can also use this in my burden of proof.

Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay, et al. “The Long-Term Effects of Parental Divorce on the Mental Health of Young Adults: A Developmental Perspective.” Child Development, vol. 66, no. 6, 1 Dec. 1995, pp. 1614–1634. OneSearch, doi:10.2307/1131900.

Chase-Lansdale et al. found that when children of all families were evaluated at birth and at ages 7, 11, 16, and 23, there was an extreme difference in mental health between participants with divorced parents and participants with married parents, in which mental health was better in those with married parents. Thus, mental health is not only affected negatively parental divorce, but it is also deep-rooted.

Hetherington, E. Mavis. “An Overview of the Virginia Longitudinal Study of Divorce and Remarriage with a Focus on Early Adolescence.” Journal of Family Psychology, vol. 7, no. 1, 1993, pp. 39–56. PsycNet, doi:10.1037//0893-3200.7.1.39.

Hetherington states that it is already known that adolescence is a time of extreme adjustment problems for children of divorcees, and the results of the study support that by finding that adolescents of divorced parents presented higher rates of externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, and problem behaviors, as well as decreased social competence and scholastic competence. This supports my claim that divorce results in negatively affected mental health of children because externalizing, internalizing, and problem behaviors are all direct indicators of mental health reduction.

Menaghan, Elizabeth G., and Morton A. Lieberman. “Changes in Depression Following Divorce: A Panel Study.” Journal of Marriage and the Family, vol. 48, no. 2, May 1986, pp. 319–328. OneSearch, doi:10.2307/352399.

This correlational study of divorce and depression, using a metropolitan Chicago sample, displayed that right after divorce, depressive affect was not significantly found, but years after the divorce, there was an onset of depression in divorced people. This aids in my argument in that offspring of divorced parents have negatively affected mental health not only in childhood, but also into adulthood because other research shows that parental depression is associated with offspring depression (Pilowsky et al. 2006) and thus, if the parental depression is occurring years after divorce and causing depression of the child, then depression of the child would also be occurring later after the divorce when the child is closer to adulthood or even already an adult, depending on the age of the child at the time of divorce.

Pilowsky, Daniel J., et al. “Family Discord, Parental Depression, and Psychopathology in Offspring: 20-Year Follow-Up.” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 45, no. 4, 2006, pp. 452–460. Ovid, doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000198592.23078.8d.

Pilowsky et al. shows that parental depression can lead to depressive and anxiety disorders in children by collecting follow-up data from offspring whose parents were either depressed or not depressed. This is evidence that mental health is affected by parental divorce into adulthood because another provided article (Menaghan and Lieberman 1986) displayed that depression onset occurs more often in adults who have experienced a divorce. I can use this evidence to support my claim.

Symons, Douglas, et al. "Using Multiple Reporters of Problem Behavior to Predict Clinical Referral of Adolescents with Learning Disabilities1." Canadian Journal of School Psychology, vol. 11, no. 2, Oct. 1995, p. 178. EBSCOhost, login.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=53310213&site=eds-live.

A Canadian study found that children ages 11 to 16 who were referred to mental health services had higher scores of externalizing behavior, conduct problems, and internalizing behavior than those not referred. This supports my claim that parental divorce lowers mental health of the children because other provided evidence has shown higher rates of externalizing behavior, conduct problems, and internalizing behavior in children of divorcees in comparison to other children, and this study links those three resulting behaviors from parental divorce to mental health compromise.

Amato, Paul R. and Marilyn Coleman. "Living in a Stepfamily: The Child's View." Stepfamilies, vol. 10, no. 4, Winter90, p. 6. EBSCOhost

A collection of view points from children living in stepfamilies in Australia displays that while many children have negative views of their stepfathers, perceiving them to smoke or drink too much or to be “mean”, most children end up feeling positive towards their stepfathers (or even liking them more than their biological fathers), and in general, children have more positive views of their step-fathers the longer the stepfather has been in the family. I can use this in my counter argument, talking about how even though divorce can lead to mental health issues, it’s not always terrible as children may begin to gain a better relationship with their stepfathers as time goes on.

Downey, T. Wayne. “The Disavowal of Authority in a Child of Divorce.” The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, vol. 43, no. 1, 1988, pp. 279–289., doi:10.1080/00797308.1988.11822746.

In a detailed, eye-opening case study of a young girl, Downey goes into depth about the “frightened, passive, withdrawn” characteristics with a “battlefield” of treatment for depressive affects during and after the process of the girl’s parents divorcing. The case study displays a real-life example of a child of divorced parents who experiences life-changing negative psychological changes that are not fixed with ease in psychotherapy, these problems are not only very severe but sometimes have to be dealt with medically.

Hetherington, E. Mavis, et al. “What Matters? What Does Not? Five Perspectives on the Association between Marital Transitions and Children's Adjustment.” American Psychologist, vol. 53, no. 2, 1998, pp. 167–184., doi:10.1037//0003-066x.53.2.167.

Hetherington presents pieces of evidence such as that all household family members of divorced parents generally experience additional stress, children from non-divorced families display less problem behaviors and better psychological well-being compared to children from divorced families, and children from divorced families are more likely to develop internalizing disorders and have lower self-esteem. All of this evidence further supports my stance that divorced parents’ children have lowered mental health in various different ways through statistics.

Wallerstein, J. S., and J. R. Johnston. “Children of Divorce: Recent Findings Regarding Long-Term Effects and Recent Studies of Joint and Sole Custody.” Pediatrics in Review, vol. 11, no. 7, 1 Jan. 1990, pp. 197–203., doi:10.1542/pir.11-7-197.

This medical article suggests three main points including 1) while it is possible for divorce to lessen stress in the family, in most cases the divorce is slightly more stressful than the marriage this couple once had 2) depression was found to be the most diagnosed clinical issue in children both 5 years and 10 years after divorce 3) economic status decreased on average after divorce. This supports my claim because stress is one of the top risk factors for mental health problems (divorce leads to stress, which leads to mental illness), depression is highly expected in children with divorced parents, and lower economic status is also correlated with depression (divorce leads to lower economic status, which leads to familial stress, which leads to mental illness).