Free Essay Sample «Effects of Divorce on School Children»

Introduction

Divorce is a problem that has been controversial around the globe and has led to many children not focusing or continuing with their leaning process. This paper seeks to address the effects of divorce to the children who are at school. Several studies are likely show that these consequences of divorce are less as compared to the results. Studies also show that children of divorce are likely to receive poor grades as compared to those who are not going through the similar dilemma. The paper will also focus on looking at the measures that can be employed by the children or youths to address the problem of divorce within families (Amato, 1999).

Research Question

This study will aim at answering the following questions: a) do children at school have the cognitive stratagems or capabilities to enable them cope up with cases of divorce? Moreover, in accordance to the idea of forming cognitive strategies the paper would also like to research on whether children of divorced parents do well at school and also research on the performance aspect of the brain. b) The research will also answer the question concerning the effects of divorce to those who are divorced, and finally c) if there is difference in academic performance of children of divorced parents with those children who have intact families (Gilbert, 1999).

The Rationale of the Research

The long lasting effects of divorce have always been well-documented in the past studies both internationally and nationally. Even though various researches have been carried on divorce, there is still no enough research in relation to the cognitive and the coping effects of divorce on children. This also includes the preservation concerning the mental well-being of the children (Crowder & Teachman 2004). Therefore in carrying research in regard to such a study may deem to be very essential. The study also will have very important implications in employing efforts to find way of helping such children who are being affected as a result of separation or divorce of their parents.

Generally, the long lasting effects of divorce have also been well-documented in the past researches yet still there are some information regarding effects of divorce are lacking. This study will in turn be very important if at all there would look into the ways of addressing the problem s associated with the children whose parents have engaged in quarrel or any other means and separated (Dunn et al. 2001).

Objectives of the Study

The main aim of this paper or this research proposal is to answer the questions that have already been asked in the above. Nonetheless, the study will also focus on building cognitive strategies for the children to be in a position of coping up with the situations such as divorce within the family. The study will also discuss the nature of the life that these children are leading and try to look into ways that they can be helped. More specifically the study will:

a)      Try and find out if there are any strategies in place that are cognitive that can be employed in order to help the children cope with divorce.

b)      Compare the academic performance of the kids who families are intact and those that their families are in not in peace and thus causing divorce.

Methodology

This part of the paper will focus on the steps that need to be undertaken in order to complete the whole research process. This is the part that will provide the explanation of the proposed techniques that will be employed in gathering and the analysis of data that will be collected in the process of research. in this part the research will also focus on deciding on the best approach as well as the factors that must be considered in choosing the research the research technique.

The design of the study

In this particular meta-analysis will have to employ the application of a case study methodology of carrying out quantitative research. In this specific study concerning the effects of divorce to school children will seek to explore how divorce is likely to affect the cognitive behavior in relation to well being of teenagers at school through carrying out interviews. Instead of using large samples and following a rigid protocol in examining the limited number of variables, case study methodology that uses an in-depth, longitudinal examination of a single instance or occurrence (Emery, 2000). This is due to the fact that this employs a more elaborate way of carrying out an analysis of the relevant information and giving a report of the results.

The study also intends to employ surveys and questionnaire to be used in this study and point out to the comments and experiences of divorced parents. Teachers will also be able to be given the opportunity to contribute towards the success of this research project by proving detailed information in regard to the performance of each student both that suffer from this problem and those who are not. The methodology requires also that the data and the reports collected from the teenagers, and the teachers and teachers in terms of Likert technique of scaling. A total of more than forty families with teenager children will be used as participants in the study.

Sampling Procedure

A total of at least fifty families with teenagers will be recruited for the study through a family court within the lineage and also from divorced families being referred for counseling. A comparison of families going through separation or divorce would also take part and the subjects without psychological problems will also be chosen.

Data Collection

The teens who will be taking part will therefore be able to complete a self report paper and pencil measure the psychological functioning in large groups by testing the environment where they are not alone. Subjects from the divorced group will be given cognitive appraisal measures of parents’ divorce and emotional security in order to complete at their own convenience (Kelly & Emery 2003).

It will be important that for the second research question, the researcher employs a technique of measuring the performance of the children in two specific ways: a) obtaining end of the second semester’s results for a total of ten subjects and record the scores for each and secondly b) the teachers will be requested to rate the performance of the child in reference to ten disciplines. Every rating will be based on 5-point scale beginning from below average of peer’s performance to extremely above average. All teachers are bound to be in line with the hypothesis of the study in order for their rating to be effective or efficient. For the purposes of Statistical analysis, Linkert scale is likely to be used in order to come up with the mean and the standard derivations for the responses (Kelly, 2002).

Data Quality

The data quality will be gathered and analyzed and will be of quality and is likely to be essential to the both the children and the parents. This research will enable students to be able to develop strategies that will in turn enable them to cope up with such cases of divorce. Nonetheless, the research findings will be from a number of cross-sectional designs and that will make it complex for to determine whether the children with mental disorder were mainly from the divorced household or even the children whose parents are not divorced (Emery, 2000).

Ethical aspect of the Study

In every country, research work involving human subjects or rather animals must be in accordance to the ethical standards. This is done in order to protect the dignity and privacy of all people and therefore all the participants involved should be given notice of the potential hazards and the general expected outcome.

Recommendation and Conclusion

According to Hetherington (1993), it is therefore clear that a large number of school children join the mounting or rising number of the children whose parents are divorced. For a given number of times students are forced to adopt new ways of living without one parent as a result of divorce. In accordance to the standpoint of the child, it is a painful feeling to lose one of the parents who have been present and that leads to various consequences.  Even though many families try to make up after a given period of time, the children are likely to suffer most and may not be capable to heal up from the problem.

Divorce is also likely to lead to detrimental impact on both long term and short term adjustment and this may cause academic problems to the child. Finally, the research will recommend that in future the study must be able to compare pre-divorce and post-divorce families in regard to the level of parenting styles which determines the child development.