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Sofi Hess

Dr. Cassel

Eng 101E-13

19 October 2018

Annotated Bibliography

My topic of research is divorce and its effects within a family. Why are so many families

getting divorced so quickly? How does divorce affect immediate family members emotionally?

Are children from divorced families suffering in school because of parental separation? These

questions, once answered, may help to shed light on this silent epidemic going on today in 21 st

century American culture.

Berlin, Gordan. “The Effects of Marriage and Divorce on Families and Children.” MDRC,
Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, May 2004,
https://www.mdrc.org/publication/effects-marriage-and-divorce-families-and-children
In the United States, about one-third of children are born out of wedlock; among this

number comes that about half of these first-time marriages end in divorce. After divorce, about

forty percent of these single mother homes are categorized as poor. With these staggering

numbers come even more damaging effects: children dropping out of school, high crime rates

and teen pregnancy. The divorce rate is out of control in the U.S. and so are the families

associated with it.

We know that though single parenting is not the main cause of damaging behavior, it is

a huge contributor. Children who are growing up in marriage intact homes are statistically

better off; less than ten percent of couples who are married are poor while thirty-five to forty

percent of single households are at or below the poverty line. Though children in intact homes
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seem to be better off, this is only true if the home includes both the child’s biological parents

and if the relationship is healthy; remarried homes and unhealthy marriages pose a similar risk

to children as single parent homes do in regard to a kid’s well-being. Unhealthy homes cause

children to be led on the path of “peer rejection, academic failure, and other antisocial

behaviors.” One factor that could have contributed to the number of out of wedlock births and

marital stress was the economic system of the seventies and eighties because families wanted

less children so both parents could go out into the work force, living off of smaller wages; this

had an adverse effect on child births recently. Government officials believe they can mediate

the problem of divorces if they could get legislature to educate impoverished couples and single

parents on marriage and keep an interest on problem solving and communication within a

relationship. A marital program called PREP has been studied and consistently helps high-risk

couples stay intact throughout pregnancy and the early years of their child’s life. The couples

who went through this training experienced high rates of marital satisfaction years after

compared to couples who divorced near the beginning. This training also benefits the child;

they perform better in school while the parents undergo the PREP program. Though these are

positive numbers, they were tested in small groups with mostly white middle class families.

Even though a study has been done that says low-income couples share the same levels of

relationship commitment as opposed to their higher-class counterparts, low-income couples

are still more likely to get a divorce after marriage. Stressful events lead to strain on

relationships within the lower income families and tend to tear them apart more than high class

families. Adapting middle class marital counselling techniques to lower class families by
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focusing on positive communication skills rather than problematic skills like criticism and

contempt will most likely foster satisfaction within the relationship.

Studies focusing on how low-income families can improve their relationships through

counselling are necessary to improve the overall divorce rate of the United States. Family life

will begin to improve drastically once the government initiates new relationship programs for

all levels of income groups.

This article is highly knowledgeable about how children are affected by divorce and will

help to solidify my questioning of how separation effects immediate families. It also gives a

glimpse into the most contributing factor to the divorce rate; income. It states how the

government can make changes to marital relationship therapy to improve parents’ and

spouses’ growing families.

Dare, Patricia, and Christopher Mallett. “Parental Divorce: A Protection from Later Delinquency
for Maltreated Children.” Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, Routledge, 2009,
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=cls
owo_facpub.
This article is showing the relationship between divorce and crime in children.

The results from this study were that from the study population of one hundred and twenty-

five children that lashed out and ended up in juvenile court, over eighty percent of the children

and teens had gone through a divorce or their parents were never even married to begin with.

One in six of all the youth experienced a substance abuse disorder, or were behind multiple

grades in school, or both. The children who experience the substance abuse and were grades

behind in school had an average of three separate visits by child protective services. This

vigorous study of Cleveland’s own Cuyahoga County’s children of broken families shows how
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massive of a correlation there is between divorce between parents and a child’s behavior and

will prove that divorce and separation have a direct correlation to children’s behavior.

Nusinovici, Simon et al. “Impact of Parental Separation or Divorce On School Performance in

Preterm Children: A Population-Based Study.” PLOS, Public Library of Science, 7
September 2018,
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202080.
Parental separation is a main factor in children’s negative behaviors in school and

overall emotions. Many studies have been conducted previously that gave different results on

which ages receive the most adverse effects of separation. This study will determine whether

preterm children are more susceptible to the effects of divorce than normal term children at

the age of five.

Infants who were categorized as having optimal brain neurodevelopment were used in

the experiment. To analyze the effects of divorced families, infants had to be matched by birth

weight and the family’s socio-economic status. Parental separation was associated in the

decrease in school performance in three to five-year olds. Results among low scholastic

performers showed to be the most impacted because of the two stressful ongoing situations.

Parental separation did not affect infants because of the undeveloped emotional connection to

their parents and underdeveloped mental capacities as well. On the contrary, kids who were

facing parent separation had less productive conversations and more inappropriate ones.

In conclusion, this study showed a correlation between younger aged children and

parental separation; children must be of age to connect with parents to see negative effects of

separation. This article can help my essay to solidify my argument for parents to stay together

during the younger years of a child’s life and to be sure the person people marry is mature and

the couple is able to problem solve from the beginning.

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Ferber, Donna. “Children and Divorce: Interview with Donna Ferber.” Love to Know, 2018,
https://divorce.lovetoknow.com/Children_and_Divorce:_Interview_with_Donna_Ferber
.
In the event of a divorce, separation is not always devastating to children; when there

are situations of abuse within a parental relationship, a divorce can be beneficial, providing a

safe single parent environment for the child. Parental conflict in front of children is more

detrimental to a child’s psyche than a parental separation.

Children can act many different ways through the process of divorce. Different age

groups display multiple ways to cope with stress including regressive thumb-sucking in younger

children and rebellious acts in teenagers.

To figure out if a child’s lashing out is divorce related, analyze multiple areas of the

child’s life. If a kid is suffering in school, it may not exactly be related to stress at home unless

unusual behaviors accompany this. Therapy can only benefit the child suffering from any

stressors from a divorce.

This article is one I can use for a professional’s opinion as Donna Ferber is a

psychotherapist. She explains that child do suffer adverse effects from a divorce. Depending on

age, children can act out from parental separation. Therapy is a good option for both the parent

and the child; it can only help the situation, especially in court.

Stepler, Renee. “Divorce Rate Rose Fast for Older People, While Falling Overall Since 1990.”
Divorce Statistics and Studies Blog, 5 April 2018,
https://familylaw.typepad.com/stats/divorce_rates_us/.
Divorce among people over 50 years old has been down in the past 25 years but has

recently spiked from .5% to 1%. In couples older than that, the divorce rate has tripled since

2015. At the time of marriage for Baby Boomers, divorce was at a high. Remarriage is not as
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stable as a first marriages, as many young boomers did. This is resulting in more divorces now.

Also, a noting factor is the less financial stability of people over age 50 whom are divorced.

This source includes mainly statistics that I can use for reference for different kinds of

divorce rates and main factors of divorces. Using data from varying age groups can help solidify

my stance on divorce and how prevalent they are In the United States.

Rome Reports. What Impact Does Divorce Have on A Family? Youtube, 8 June 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuGYSlCbM2w.
The separation of families can also have an effect on society, not only on the children.

Broken families are more likely to not have the resources to care for sick family members.

Different from what is normally thought, caring for and providing for the sick in the family can

strengthen the bond between a family and the husband and wife. The family becomes a unit

and family values are reinforced. Divorce can also attribute to low self-esteem in children and

problems in school. The first step to solving the divorce problem is accessing what problems

modern day families are facing and what is tearing them apart.

This article is based out of Europe and the divorce rates there. These are similar to the

ones here in the United States. I can use the effects of divorce on children they list. New

information I have learned in this video about how dealing with sick family members can

strengthen a family bond is useful.