Critical Thinking in Psychology

Jillian Brandon 

Divorce and child consequences

Top of Form

I believe that parents divorce has long-term, negative consequences for children.

I found an article that goes against this belief, so the article states how parents divorce does not have long-term negative consequences

link to article: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFH0004550/Mohi_Grant_W_201405_BA.pdf

1) What is the purpose of the research?

The purpose of this research is to see if there are any positive outcomes for a child of their parents divorce. Specifically, they distinguished whether the effects of a divorce can positively influence the relationship formation and the maintenance skills of young adults, in particular romantic relationships.

2) What method of research was used? Describe the type of experiment, and the experiment itself.

This is a multi method study. In this experiment, there was the use of face to face interviews and surveys. The surveys were sent out via social media to young adults who attend the University of Central Florida. The surveys were used to reveal frequencies and correlations between different factors of relationship maintenance, parental conflict, and post-divorce emotional adjustment. Attached to the survey was a place to add contact information if the student was willing to meet in person to discuss their parents divorce. The experimenters also distributed the survey to students whose parents have never been divorced to use as a control sample with the divorced sample. In the experiment, 46% of the total sample had experienced one parental divorce

3) What are the findings? Give a detailed account of the results.

I really liked this research because they came up with multiple hypotheses they wanted to figure out during the study. Some of these findings include:

• The majority (roughly 75%) of surveyors responded as having negative emotions at the time of the divorce (sad, stressed, worried, confused, hatred, and scared)
• The rest of the surveyors (roughly 14%) responded as having feelings such as happiness, relief, and being relaxed
• The experimenters first hypothesis was ” that respondents from intact families would have more positive outcomes with relationship formation than those from divorced families”. The results of this hypothesis turned out to be that individuals from the divorce group had a better relationship longevity compared to those from intact families.
• The experimenter also ran another test in the experiment called a T test to determine the significance of the divorce in the participants life and their attitude toward relationships. This T test that was conducted showed that there was no significant different between people who had experienced a divorce and those who have not.
• The second hypothesis states “that male adult children of divorce would experience more difficulty in maintaining successful romantic relationships than females”. The data concluded that on average male relationships lasted about 4-7 months where female relationships lasted about 8-11 months. In addition to that information there were more females that reported have relationships for 12+ months than males.
• The third hypothesis tested is “that young adults who experienced parental divorce as teenagers would experience more difficulty in maintaining successful romantic relationships than those who experienced it as younger children”. The evidence for this hypothesis showed that there was no significance at what age divorce occurred. There was evidence that showed that individuals who had the divorce occur during the ages of 12-14 now reported the highest average of intimate relationships.
• The final hypothesis stated “that higher frequencies of parental divorces would have a more negative effect on relationship formation than lower frequencies”. The data here also showed that there was no significant relationship between the number of divorces someone has experienced and their attitude toward relationships.
• There was also multiple lessons that were taught through the divorces that research participants shared with the experimenters
  • wanted to strive to make their own relationships better than what their parents went through
  • some of their parents got married too young and this makes participants want to take time when forming relationships and to go slow while in one
  • how important communication is in a relationship
  • insight on what they were looking for in their own future relationships

Overall, i thought this experiment was interesting and definitely helps breakdown the stereotype that divorces create long term negative consequences for the child. This helped me understand this topic a lot more!