What impact does divorce and separation have on children and what effect has this rising rate had on youngsters viewpoint?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Chapter one

Introduction

In this chapter, I will be presenting my aims, research questions and why I chose this topic area. This will keep me on track whilst conducting my investigation and when I am analysing results and drawing up my conclusion. I will also be referring back to this chapter during the course of my investigation to ensure that I am responding to all of the aims I have displayed and hope to achieve.

The aim of my sociological investigation is to find out what impact divorce or separation has on children, with a particular emphasis on my age group, (teenagers). Notwithstanding, during interviews I will also be talking to the respondents about how separation or divorce affected them when they were younger too. Divorce is the legal termination of marriage and has become increasingly popular in Britain in the past few decades; there have also been many more separations in our society. I hope to find out how this will affect the people of my generation and their opinions on the subject.

I chose this topic because I am generally interested in it, and have witnessed many incidences were children of my age have been a victim of this process. Within this group of people, I noticed numerous changes in their personalities, interaction with other people and behaviour in general. I would like to investigate this further and have a more specific knowledge of how a person changes when they have encountered a marital breakdown or a separation. Another reason I took a particular interest in this topic is because I have personally been through this situation myself and have noticed a few negligible changes in my attitudes and relationship with my parents - I would like to know if these are similar to others of my age group. 50% of marriages now end in divorce in the Untied Kingdom; I want some idea as to how this will affect my cohort as a whole. For example, due to many parents getting divorced or separated, will my generation and future ones see a decrease in the number of marriages? Despite this, I must bear in mind that official reports state Britain still conducts far more wedding sermonises than many of there counterparts in Europe and the rest of the world.

Although after 2005 we can see a slight decrease, the rate is still higher than it was in say, the year two thousand. Also, we can see that the divorce rate often decreases and increases at times, however, never dramatically. This really puts into perspective of the issue in England and Wales.

I will be using the following research questions below to perform my investigation:

Does divorce or separation have any affects on a child’s behaviour, opinions and interaction with others, if yes, how and to what extent?
Does divorce or separation disrupt a child’s education, why and to what extent?
Does a child’s opinion of separation, divorce and marriage change when they have been through this situation? For example: do they think it’s acceptable for couples to give up on their relationships so easily? Or, do they believe that the rising number of couples separating or getting divorced is acceptable? Do they see themselves getting married in the future? What is their opinion of marriage in general? Would they cohabit first?

These sub questions should help me answer my title question more explicitly and accurately and, as well as, helping me create a more in-depth analysis of the impact divorce and separation has on a child.

Chapter two

Methodology

In this chapter, I will be explaining in some detail the triangulation of methods of research I have chosen and why. I will be giving advantages and disadvantages for each, while, displaying the methods I will not be using and why they are inappropriate for this topic area. After I have completed this objective, I will be showing the beginning of my interviews, and will be passing these through some close friend. They will inform me if these starting questions are appropriate after ensuring these people have been through a separation or divorce. Henceforward, I shall make any changes that are necessary. After having finished this, I will explain how I will be presenting my findings. Then finally, after conducting a pilot study for my “structured interview” I will note any changes I am making.

To conduct my investigation, I am going to use three methods. My primary sources will be built upon two case studies (using an in- depth interview and convert observation), and oral questionnaires, whom the respondents will be from both genders, and a variety of backgrounds and ages. Using of both in – depth and structured interviews will guarantee I have both reliability and validity in my investigation. Facilitating me to develop figures (or quantitative data) to base comparisons on and to compare with secondary sources and also at the same time, take a more personal approach to the topic and to obtain respondents real and profound views.

The reason I am going to conduct an in-depth interview is because it will allow me to focus the coursework on a strong and highly developed case study. I will be able to investigate how divorce affects a child from somebody’s experience which, in my opinion, is the best way for sociologists to retrieve sensitive and key findings. The only problem I am facing is the fact I cannot conduct a large amount of these, since the duration of each can last up to a staggering few hours. Furthermore, one cannot simply base conclusions on one person’s experience, as it may be dissimilar from others, meaning my conclusion would be meaningless. This is why I will be using secondary sources too. Another drawback is that it would prohibit me to compare results, as each will be unique in its own form. As my sample size is small, I will need to use other research methods to obtain statistics. I plan to interview just one person, who will be referred to as “case study one”.

Before I conduct my interview I will remind the respondent that they can assure this interview will be conducted with full confidence (confidentially). This should make it far more comfortable for the person knowing their secrets will not be identified, leading to more valid and reliable outcomes.

Below are my aims I hope to achieve in the interview:

If “case study one” feels due to her experience she does not plan to get married in the future.
If separation has affected her education and why.
If separation has imposed any views and opinions.
Whether she has good or bad behaviour in school.
Has separation turned her against a single parent of inflicted favouritism of any description?
We will be discussing also her relationships with friends. Does she have frequent arguments, what is the reason for this?… e.c.t

For the duration of the interview it is of the essence that an informal and trustworthy atmosphere is developed if I am to retrieve precise information. In order do this; I will place the cassette recorder so the respondent will not notice it whilst the interview is in progress. I will also be ensuring I don’t use complicated sociological terms in view of the fact that they may not understand and which would create a ruinous formal and possibly panicky surrounding. This interview will also be referred to as a “conversation”.

Below I have bequeathed the first few questions I will be asking “case study one” at the beginning of the interview.

Do you mind this conversation being recorded, you will not be identified?
How are you?
Who do you live with…e.c.t

After I have developed this calm environment, I will begin to ask more personal questions to get my research questions answered in an ample of detail. If the respondent at any time objects to a particular question or I can feel or see reluctance, I will simply say “OK, I understand if you don’t want to talk about it” and continue with a less serious question” (Empathy). I understand that this is an extremely sensitive topic and nobody wants to feel awkward or melancholy whilst an interview is being conducted. Another thing I will be ensuring is that I do not at any stage answer for the respondent or pointer anything. If I was to, ‘case study one’ would be pressured into agreeing with me to create a good impression and prevents them from thinking for themselves. Influencing ‘case study one’ would make the findings biased. Hence, I shall bestow a sheet presenting a number of the questions I hope to ask, and details of why I’m doing this interview and what for. This will enable ‘case study one’ to plan her answers and additionally, this way, everything will be expected, no surprises or challenging patches. Although I want a friendly atmosphere, I must remember if it gets to friendly the aims of my investigation may not be attended to. I may also, note down any facial expressions which are important when it comes to the analysis. The only personal information that will be used is the gender and age if appropriate.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Once my investigation gets underway, the focus will be on ‘case study two’. For this stage of my coursework, I will be using participant observation, as ‘case study two’ is in my friendship group. This observation will be covert, meaning the Hawthorne effect won’t be a problem. There are inconsistencies attached however; seeing as this is a convert observation, I cannot ask questions as to why they are con- ducting themselves in this way. Even if this is not a success, I should still have my in-depth interview and structured interviews for a substitute. This method will permit me to study somebody in their natural environment. The objective behind this approach is to find out how divorce may affect ones relations with others and behaviour outside home life. I must ensure that I will again, not mention this individual’s name, as it is their right not to be identified. It is important as well that I don’t judge the persons actions or discuss any of my findings with any other person other than the teacher involved, however, even when I do this, it will not include things outside my investigation.

Believing a oral questionnaire would be far more apposite for this topic, I decided to use structured-interviews with a sample size of 12, (6 male, 6 female). Although the aim of this section is to gather statistics to produce statements rather than personal experiences, I still felt that this topic was far too sensitive to simply hand out written surveys. Unlike the other two methods, I will not be using close friends for this element. What's more, another benefit is that this way, respondents do not have to go out of their way to return the questionnaires; it can be done then and there. I will keep it epigrammatic and only ask questions that are requisite in order to help me analyse my report. I will be, conversely, using intimate acquaintances for my ‘pilot study’, along with a short series of paragraphs on any changes made. As before, I will remind respondents that no personal details are required and that merely I and the teacher involved will be assessing and viewing this sensitive data.

I decided against the idea of using a written questionnaire for a number of factors. Firstly, it seemed a far too sensitive project to simply evaluate with the use of tick boxes and thus, I think I would have experienced a low return rate – and I also felt I would be missing out on an opportunity to conduct a deeper analysis, since I could not really look closely at their personal experiences adequately. However, not only this, but if any problems were to arise, such as not understanding one of the questions, for example, I would not be able to assist them and as a result, again, this could be the cause of a low return rate. Although this form of methodology can help me obtain a large amount of data and despite the fact the respondents have more time to consider the answers, the negatives still outweighed the positives in this particular case.

What is more, I will be using various means of media to allocate my secondary sources. All newspapers, television programs, websites and books I use for this will be shown at the back in the ‘bibliography’ chapter. These sources are obligatory for official statistics and to compare my findings with other social science reports.

The information obtained from this investigation will be presented in a variety of ways. The quantitative data, (figures) will be presented in tables or within text. However, as for the findings I achieve from my two case studies, I will present them in written format.

Pilot study analysis and improvements.

Before my investigation got underway, I decided to conduct a “pilot study” for my structured interview. This is the process in which a smaller version of interview/questionnaire is carried out before the authentic investigation. Researchers use information gathered in pilot studies to refine or modify the research methodology. This combats any mistakes re-occurring which could cause erroneous results.

I used a pilot study on only five individuals, as the only reason for doing this was to assess the method not to obtain results. The problem didn’t seem to be an anxious setting, but the configuration and also the language I used seemed to cause some misapprehension. Consequently there was no need to change the questions as such, as I believed they accounted for my needs, however, the way in which they were put needed great alteration.

The most common question which evoked misunderstanding was, “What is your opinion of marriage?” This was clearly far too broad and thus needed to be a diminutive more specific. The reason I was reluctant do this before, was because I wanted to challenge the respondent. So, I decided to reword it to, “What are the negatives and positives of marriage would you say”. Here, I am still not telling the respondent what to say or implying anything – I deemed that this way, the person would just give two examples, which was significantly clearer.

The second and final issue was the term “cohabitation”, (living together outside of marriage). Obviously it was rather imprudent to use a sociological term which many people wouldn’t recognise. Therefore, changing the original question from “Will you cohabit first?” to “Do you think you will probably live with the person before committing yourself?” was far more graspable than the previous simplistic question. I used a variety of open- ended questions, as this gives me more insight to people’s true thoughts; as well as some YES/NO closed questions which will be used to base my primary statistics.

In conclusion, my survey should now be preformed comfortably with greater understanding of the question, meaning I won’t have to simplify it, which would have been somewhat intimidating; therefore I will hopefully obtain flawless, reliable and detailed results in order to fulfil targets four and five.

Chapter three

Finding and analysis

In this chapter, I will present the information I have gained. This includes results from my covert observation, structured interview and in-depth interview before presenting it into tables. For the observation, I will be writing up key points I have learnt and analysing them thoroughly and the in-depth interview will have the facial expressions mentioned and also the key quotes. I will be commenting on the results and making comparisons and highlighting patterns connected with them. I will link my findings with secondary data looking for links and also different implications.

Structured - interview findings and analysis.

Before beginning my analysis, I am going to put some statistical evidence in the table below. Subsequently I will compare this with the secondary information I have collected.

As you can see from the table above, my argument that most people who have experienced a divorce will be turned against the idea themselves has been confirmed. Through some minor discussions, I got the intuition that this was due to the fact they were obstinate their marriage wasn’t going to succeed, like so many are today. One mentioned, “It’s just a waste of time, there’s a good chance it won’t work out”, other arguments included, “You don’t need paper to prove you love someone”. The most essential to me is the first, its clearly highlighting that after experiencing a divorce, the child in some cases are terrified it will happen to them and the anguish will manifest again. Or, this could represent how experiencing a divorce causes an uncaring attitude or a sign of surrender towards marriage– as they have been hurt so much by it before.

There is on the other hand one person on the table whose result is anomalous. I did go in more depth with this person and it became apparent that different types of divorce and separation can have dissimilar effects. In this particular case, the fifteen year old female, could not remember this process and had witnessed her mother re-marrying which brought together a rather jubilant reconstituted family – which she says “is great, you get loads of presents at Christmas”. This could be a cover up for the true emotions fact, conversely she clearly sees a positive side to this situation – and seemed exultant in herself and blended family life.

The other respondents who had not experienced divorce or separation are noticeably not distracted by the growing divorce rate we are witnessing in our society. It seems the norm of martial freedom; with barley no social stigma for getting a divorce during this time has encouraged the idea that if you get married, you can always get a divorced, as having the third highest divorce rate in Europe suggests. When I looked into this further however, it was clear my hypothesis was untrue. Many people, (every person I surveyed) of my generation believe people give up on relationships far too easily. Also, they agreed that they would as it stands cohabit (on average for a few years) before they commit themselves to marriage, which shows they are far more cautious than originally thought. They were also fretful about how children are affected due to ill-considered and easily given up relationships. A 14 year old male stated, “You have to be committed, if you decide to spilt – other people such as children for instance will be harmed emotionally”. Could our generation see, through this concerned evidence, a decline in divorce rates? It’s almost impossible to predict, then again, through this small amount of evidence – people are clearly aware now of the risks of divorce and how it will affect the children.

My age group are still feeling positively about marriage and most agreed that the positives outweigh the disadvantages. My secondary data can be linked to this. Even though in Europe, there has been a huge decline in the number of marriages. In 1961 there were 340 000 first marriages in the continent compared to 208 000 in 1995. Britain however still has the third highest marriage rate, but also one of the highest divorce rates. We may find marriage is popular but it must be taken into account that 40% of marriages today are remarriages in the UK compared to that of 14% in the early 1960s. However, there’s no doubt that my generation seem far more cautious, with cohabitation for a few years before marriage reaching its all-time high, but it must also be taken into account that this evidence would include homosexual relationships, which are being increasingly accepted in the UK, so its important when we look at the figure of 25%, a little smaller. My primary data saw 100% of respondents wanting to cohabit first. All said that people give up on relationships too easily in our society today, although one made the additional comment of, “ before, people were living in unhappy marriages, in my opinion although it is abused at times – people can now live far more freely”.

So why has divorce rocketed and why is it now socially acceptable?

Despite it looking as if young people agree that this extreme rise in divorce and separation is unacceptable, it continues to rise. But, it began to be acceptable when people no longer had to live in empty-shell marriages, it was extremely advantageous – however the reasons for divorce have changed, and people do seem not to give their relationships a chance, as my primary statistical data implies.

Evidence hints it began in 1971 when the Divorce Reform Act was introduced and in 1988, when the waiting time was shortened. As the various laws came into force and it became easier, people began to see nothing wrong in terminating their marriage. If something is law, people cannot look down on others as much, in the eyes of the government and police, they have done nothing wrong and it is perfectly acceptable – if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t have been enforced. When a law is changed, attitudes are, and so came less social stigma and a dramatic rise in divorce. Also, could it be perhaps the fact people now have a longer life expectancy, meaning more time with the same partner. Could this just, in some cases, be through boredom? If so, I am sure many would agree that this is deplorable, however, not in the eyes of the law.

Observation, ‘Case Study two’

For confidence reasons I will not be displaying this individuals location or name. This is a fifteen year old male, who experienced a rather disordered divorce, which is still currently causing many arguments with the teenager and his father. I revisited his behaviour before this legal termination of marriage and how it currently is. Although this is just one case, I could notice a few of these changes in myself and “case study one” meaning although people react to this stimulus in different ways, there are many overlaps. To present these findings, I decided to place them in a table. This way I could compare the changes easily.

Using the evidence displayed above, it become apparent that divorce has a large impact on an individual and their beliefs. After experiencing such pain, it was clear this person hated the idea of others being hurt. I believe that this person turns to alcohol to reduce the pains of his problems. For the third change in character, I believe that this could be due to wanting to yet again forget his own issues, maybe by supporting others he feels better about himself and his troubles. Also, I considered that perhaps the binge drinking and smoking was due to this individual’s new friendship group, but he told me how his parents splitting up caused him to become the way he is. Also, he is rather unconcerned about his educational achievements. Despite this, it is important to mention the fact that the ideas obtained from this observation may not be accurate since I could not question them. Also, they may have lead to different behaviour because that it their coping method. However, would this link in with ‘case study two’?

In-depth interview ‘Case study one’

This was a 15 and a half year old female, who experienced a separation at the age of two. She described how her first memory was of her parents arguing. I purposely made these two situations very different, enabling me to see how different circumstances may alter the affect- it’s clear that not everyone would react in the same way; it all depends on the scale of the processes, the timing and many other factors. As with ‘case study one’ I will present my significant findings in a simple table, and then will look at key quotes for further analysis. Before the conversation commenced, I needed some light on the current situation, in order to see if views and responses could be linked to it – which would reduce the risk of misunderstanding, it would also enable me to produce an explanation as to why she may feel a certain way sometimes.

The current situation and routine for case study one:

Separation (parents were not conjoined in marriage) occurred at the exceedingly young age of two.
First memory is of parents disputing.
Father is quite affluent, whilst mother leads a simple working-class life.
Father has experienced a divorce recently after marriage failed – causing depression; he struggled to cope.
Case study one lives with mother.
Has a regular visit to see father (weekend and holiday).

Key questions and responses:

I feel that I now have enough information organised and presented to analyse the in-depth interview and draw links between secondary data and the findings from my other two research methods. I will discuss the first three questions, as I think that there could be more to them:

This generally supports the idea raised in the structured interviews, where all the respondents who experienced divorce/separation, but one, did not wish to be married. As it stands, from looking at her anxious facial expression and the quite tone of voice, I think this could be possibly down to the fact she is worried about becoming unhappy like her father. She is prepared for the worst to happen and experiencing many failed relationships has forced the idea that relationships are cursed from the start.

It’s a possibility that this all came from the aggressive argument she witnessed at that extremely young age – I don’t think that this particular evidence could be used confidently, the circumstances were different. Maybe someone who witnessed a short and sharp termination would be far less hostile. Therefore I decided to ask another close friend who had experienced a divorce when she was young, but who didn’t witness the arguments. The outcome was incredibly diverse; she felt far less hatred and anger. She thought that the upset caused a negative affect in her education.

This individual has experienced her father being incredibly melancholy and her mother is just the average working-class women. Maybe this aspired her to as she quoted, “(you have) to get on with things”. This could show how she felt so unhappy, but wants a far brighter future.

There are many similarities between case study one and two. Firstly, they both have grown more belligerent and seem to be rebelling against society for its bad dealings. Also, although case study one is now different, at some stage both case studies saw divorce/separation disrupting their education, and due to constant upset – saw little point in school. For one however, it encouraged her to work harder for a brighter future. Witnessing their parents arguing meant they did the same with their friendships, they developed very different views and opinions, others just couldn’t understand where they were coming from.

There are official statistics that support the feeling of antagonism and rebellion against society, after a divorce: especially if the father doesn’t return. Case study twos relationship with is father has now come to a halt – meaning he would be part of one of the 10% of British households titled “Lone-parent”. At a younger age, it has an even larger impact. A lone-parent family often means the child being constantly taken care of by child-minders meaning inadequate socialisation; other research has shown that there is a clear link between lone-parent families and child’s social problems. In the case of ‘case study one’, we can see clearly that, although she was not necessarily experienced inadequate socialisation as she mainly spends time with her mother, who appears to be struggling with the outcome of her callous separation, she does have minor social issues, especially with her feelings about this issue as well as her interaction with others, which maybe, could leader to minor anti-social actions, such as binge drinking and smoking, as we saw with ‘case study two.’

I am not particularly pleased by my secondary sources, I have had a lot difficulty with finding anything using the media (which made be question if my report was valid) since it’s such a personal situation and it differs so much – although I was able to compare statistics. Therefore, any secondary data simply sated, “they may encounter social problems and relationships will be affected,” which I have proven, but I have answered it in a more personal and explicit way.

I also felt that there was greater need for me to conduct even more in-depth interviews and observations so I could make a more broad comparison and investigated which ones were most commonly over lapped. As a result, it seems as if I have not really looked at my generation as a whole for the first aspect of this investigation (I think I have done this for how it has affected youngsters’ viewpoints as whole well) and as a result has decreased its reliability. However, having said this, it is still evidence, and still answers my question to some extent and I did find over lapping – maybe I would have just found the same if I continued to do more interviews, also, my resources and time was a little limited to conduct dozens of these and then analyse them all.

Chapter four

Conclusion and Evaluation

For this final aspect of my investigation, I will be evaluating my work, explaining its strengths and failings on top of the problems that occurred whilst explaining how I could have made better use of my methods and how my methodology could have been improved. After, I will be explaining my final conclusions while linking them back to my research questions in chapter one. I will then answer the main title question.

While the data I collected can be used for valuable evidence, it’s not as reliable as I hoped. I didn’t really obtain much primary statistical information, yet I did manage to research some from various secondary sources. This topic is based more on personal opinion and how divorce/separation affects different individuals in assorted ways, although numeric data is needed to support arguments – the main source of evidence will be my two case studies and additional comments made in the structured interviews. Despite this, I have still presented some statistics of my own. This was one of the first issues that occurred. I hoped to achieve both reliability and validity in my investigation. I believe I have done this satisfactorily; however it’s not really well balanced given that it was problematic to gain numerical data for a sensitive issue like this one – for which reason I chose not to act upon a self-completion questionnaire.

Conducting more in-depth interviews and observations would have been a good idea, as it would enable me to compare and contrast and look more closely at the similarities– nevertheless I can still do this. The legal termination of marriage or the split of a partnership affects a child in their own way; they react, behave and change in many different ways – there is not a set reaction, although there are overlaps and sometimes the same corollary or feeling will be found in various individuals. Therefore, I could not really have erroneous results, where the affects of the process was concerned, as it’s such a wide issue.

All my methods had their strengths and weaknesses, which I will now display, in order of conduct, below.

Firstly, I will discuss my observation. This method was invaluable to my investigation, it enabled me to assess character change before and after a divorce in a person’s natural environment and without their knowledge – meaning it was highly reliable. As the Hawthorne Effect wasn’t an issue is this particular case, the individual behaved as normal as there was no need to act differently if they hadn’t the knowledge of me conducting this analysis. Also, as ‘case study two’ was part of my friendship group, I had an extra advantage – I could possibly slip in the odd question without him becoming suspicious. In my opinion this method will be the one of the main foundation for the answer of my title question.

In spite of this, I wasn’t able to ask as to why he behaved in a certain way as I was observing, meaning I had to deduce why. The principle of ‘case study one’ was to develop reasons, whereas ‘case study two’ was just a simple comparison – as I linked these together, ‘case study two’s’ behaviour became extensively explainable Also, conducting this method was sincerely straightforward and hassle free. I didn’t necessarily have to make notes immediately, a bravura advantage.

I then carried out various structured interviews (or oral questionnaires) among an insufficient sample size of 12. There wasn’t much choice, since realistically I would have needed to interview and obtain data from hundreds of people, which is highly incompetent and perceptibly impossible for someone with such a small budget and it would have taken months to prepare. I do feel however, that I could have stretched it a little further. Due to this issue, my statistics didn’t match those gained form a national scale, which I did expect. The data I collected stated that 90% of people get married, mine worked out that a third didn’t wish to get married. I believe this method could have been improved if I allowed people to express and expand on their experiences more via the use of open questions –this was done to some degree though and I was pleased with the outcome.

I found that the in-depth interview was by far the most lucrative of all my methods. I only encountered two nuisances; the person was willing to be recorded, but she clearly felt unnerving as she stated, “I don’t mind being recorded, but I will feel awkward at first”. I couldn’t risk this –thus, in order to obtain accurate results, I decided to write key quotes out. I had formerly hoped to focus on the respondent’s facial expressions –this became problematic on the other hand, seeing as I was looking at the paper in my hand most of the time writing my notes.

Due to funds and practicality, it was impossible to make this investigation to apply to everyone – it’s unrepresentative to a wider population. Also, it proved very challenging to locate secondary source material regarding the impact it has on a child personally to analyse and to help support my convulsions – however, I am pleased with the information I found.

Regardless of the few problems I had with my data collection, feeling I now had enough evidence to begin making my conclusions; I began to answer the four research questions presented in the first chapter, which I created in order to help whilst answering the main (title) question: as shown below:

Does divorce or separation have any affects on a child’s behaviour, opinions and interaction with others, if yes, how and to what extent?
Does divorce or separation disrupt a child’s education, why and to what extent?
Does a child’s opinion of separation, divorce and marriage change when they have been through this situation? For example: do they think it’s acceptable for couples to give up on their relationships so easily? Or, do they believe that the rising number of couples separating or getting divorced is acceptable? Do they see themselves getting married in the future? What is their opinion of marriage in general? Would they cohabit first?

Yes, unquestionably, a colossal bearing. Using my confirmation, many children experiencing a separation or divorce change their overview on the situation, and associate a negative and painful picture in their mind thus, anxiety and builds up and they turn against the prospect all together. This doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone, of course, but it seems to be those who have benefited, and been presented with a new and stable reconstituted family, which may bring more jubilant times. Clearly, there is a link between a parental break – up and a change in behaviour and interaction with piers and parents. Behaviour can become aggressive and exasperated and sometimes rebel against society under the influence of alcohol and cigarettes. And as an individuals views change, companions and others cannot understand them, or where they are coming from – they feel sometimes if they can only relate to someone who has experienced what they have. In cases, a child will favourites a parent or get on better with them, perhaps they are impugning a parent, or simply they don’t see a great deal of another.

Yes, both positively and negatively. Sometimes, educational welfare is impaired since the stress causes a lack of attentiveness, work builds up and is simply the last thing on their mind (depending if it is a rather bad break-up), arguments may prevent work ever being completed. Moreover, it could make the child want to work for an optimistic future, where they can lead a happier and secure life. It could be their needed feeling of security.

Yes, it does change views on wanting to marry (see number one). Assuming my statistics are reliable, most children this day in age would agree that people are far too lenient with their relationships and give – up too easily which is unacceptable because it’s damaging for people around them and that the use of divorce is badly treated. However, unless they have experienced a divorce or separation, they do not seem to be too put-off by the idea, although they do seem far more weary and all of my answerers were sure they would cohabit for a few months or possibly at least a year first before committing themselves. It’s hard to explain the feelings brought on by a separation, usually the child is very confused to how they feel and sometimes become numb (can’t become upset easily anymore), after a while. Also, occasionally people find themselves devoted to a single parent, perhaps through sympathy or a parent influencing their views on them i.e. portraying them as a bad person.

So, I can now finally answer my main question:

“What impact does divorce or separation have on children and what effect does the rising divorce rate have on youngsters’ beliefs?”

I am going to commence with the second aspect of the question here, this is referring to all youngsters of my age group, meaning I am basing this part not solely on those who have witnessed a divorce. I did find that my generation have become far more vigilant where marriage is concerned, they seem to be sure that they will choose carefully and not rush into anything – I am convinced that this is directly the cause of the rising divorce rate. It does not, nonetheless, put them of the concept of marriage. Nevertheless, there is a clear link between experiencing a divorce/separation and not yearning for (at this age) to marry later in life. I trust it may just be the phobia. As for the first part of the question, “What impact does divorce or separation have on children…,” there cannot be one unambiguous answer, although I did find an assortment of overlaps which included a better education or on the other hand a failing education. The individual will obviously become extraordinarily saddened, bringing a strain on their relationships, especially parents; and in some cases, the individual will be so full of hatred that they rebel against society and use the influence of drugs such as tobacco and alcohol to escape. They will often be mystified about their own feelings. Also, they may feel drawn to one parent’s side or perhaps blame them, or worse, themselves. If a parent becomes dejected after a break-up the child will be under immense strain, especially if they come in contact with severe arguments between and or feel that its their responsibility to take care and look after them, causing problems with the relationship with another parent. These may be distinct arguments, however, I strongly believe that many people experiencing this would find common ground, as I can certainly see many of these things in myself, and I am sure many others will too, although as every case is unique, there will be a exceedingly high amount of variation and of course additions, the list is huge, and was impossible for me to locate every single affect a separation or divorce has on a child.

Chapter five

Bibliography

I used the following in this investigation: