The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children Essay Example

The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children Essay The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children Dee Whitworth Angelina College Abstract Divorce can have many psychological effects on a child. When a marriage ends in divorce, a child of the marriage may view the divorce the same as if a parent has died. During the period following a parental separation a child may have feelings of denial, anxiety, abandonment, anger, guilt, depression and conflicts of loyalty. Because of the pain and emotional damage the child is sure to suffer, many parents stay in a dysfunctional marriage believing it is the best thing for their child. There are some cases where staying together for the sake of the child can actually be detrimental to the child. A parent can diminish the negative effects of a divorce by supporting and reassuring their children, before, during and after the separation. A parent can rebuild the child’s sense of security by reestablishing stability. If parents do not take the time to address the emotional needs of the child during the process of a divorce, parents can damage their relationship with their child and the emotional development of the child. Keywords: Divorce, Psychological effects, Children Divorce is a stressful time for every member of a family. The psychological effects of a child during this stressful time depend in part on the age of the child and the parents’ ability to control their emotions and to work together to sooth and reassure the child. Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan (1999) believe children in this age group are too young to understand what is happening. Even though these children may not understand what is happening between their parents, they may sense the distress their parents are feeling, and react negatively. We will write a custom essay sample on The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Psychological Effects of Divorce on Children specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer According to Cohen (2002), â€Å"Infants and children younger than 3 years may reflect their caregivers’ distress, grief, and preoccupation; they often show irritability, increased crying, fearfulness, separation anxiety, sleep and gastrointestinal problems, aggression, and developmental regression† (p. 1019). The parents of a child in this age group need to work together to foster feelings of security in their child. According to Henning and Oldham (1977), Parents of pre-school hildren that establish consistent routines and reassure their children that they will not be abandoned are able to reestablish a child’s sense of security. Children that are four and five years of age sometimes feel that they are to blame for their parent’s divorce. They feel that if they had not been bad their parents would not be getting divorced. Additionally, children in this age group tend to believe that they can make their parents reconcile by being a good child. According to Henning and Oldham (1977), â€Å"Young children and pre-school children have an incomplete and confused understanding of what has caused such a radical change in the family routine† (p. 55). Cohen (2002) states that â€Å"At 4 to 5 years of age, children often blame themselves for the breakup and parental unhappiness, become more clingy, show externalizing behavior (acting out), misperceive the events of the divorce situation, fear that they will be abandoned, and have more nightmares and fantasies† (p. 1019). It has been implied that boys in this age group have a harder time adjusting to the divorce than young girls. According to Max (1970), the effects of an absent father are felt the most by boys aged four to six. Hetherington and Stanley-Hagen (1999) found that â€Å"Fathers involvement has been found to be greater with sons following divorce and to be more important for the development of boys than of girls† (p. 132). You could argue that the reason for this is because sons get their gender identify from their father, so the loss of a father affects a boy more than it does a girl. Parents can alleviate some of the anxiety of the child by allowing the father access to the child. If it is not possible for the father to maintain a close relationship with the child, due to violence or sexual abuse, the mother should take steps to find a suitable male role model to help her children, like a coach or scout leader (Sugar, 1970, p. 592). Gardner (1977) tells us that children often use a male teacher as a surrogate father figure. Adolescents and teenagers are more likely to openly show their anger toward their parents and become depressed during a divorce. They are more likely to act out by stealing, lying and becoming sexually promiscuous. These behaviors can lead the child to become pregnant or associate with other children who are also displaying delinquent behavior (Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan, 1999, p. 131). Cohen (2002) has stated that â€Å"School-aged children may be moody or preoccupied; show more aggression, temper, and acting out behavior; seem uncomfortable with gender identity; and feel rejected and deceived by the absent parent. School performance may decrease, and they may agonize about their divided loyalties and feel that they should be punished† (p. 1019). Adolescents and teenagers are often torn between their parents and show an alliance to one parent over the other parent. This alliance makes it difficult for the child to talk to one parent without feeling as if they are betraying their loyalty to the other parent. The alliance may also be utilized by the child to manipulate their parent (Henning @ Oldham, 1977, p. 56). Some children in this age group deal with their negative feelings by pulling away from their parents and becoming more independent. Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan (1999) found that â€Å"Some girls actually seem to be enhanced by dealing with the responsibilities, independence, and challenges associated with divorce in a supportive environment† (p. 132). Although some girls do seem to thrive after a divorce, they often grow into young women who set exceptionally high expectations for themselves, but still feel inadequate no matter how much they may accomplish. Although divorce has been found to enhancement some girls, it is rarely found that divorce has enhanced boys (Hetherington @ Stanley-Hagan, 1999, p. 132). Some parents maintain their unhappy marriage because they fear a divorce would negatively affect their child. In some cases, maintaining a turbulent marriage may be more detrimental to a child than an actual divorce (Rosen, 1977, p. 26). Additionally, â€Å"children adjust better in a harmonious single parent household that in an acrimonious two-parent household† (Hetherington @ Stanley-Hagan, 1999, p. 37). This confirms that a child can be negatively affected when parents try to stay together for the sake of the child. Rhona Rosen, M. A. , interviewed 92 children of divorce and found that â€Å"73 children stated in the strongest terms that they would not have chosen to have their parents stay together in conflict† (Rosen, 1977, p. 24). Parents who maintain a combative relationship for the sake of the child are actua lly hurting the child’s psychological development more than if they divorced. Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan (1999) believe â€Å"Children whose parents will later divorce is already showing problems in adjustment many years before the divorce† (p. 133). Children who are well adjusted before divorce are better able to adapt and navigate through the stressful time of divorce. Children who were poorly adjusted before a divorce continue having problems after a divorce and are at greater risk for adjustment problems in later life (Hetherington, 1999, p. 133). A lack of parental communication and guidance causes great distress to a child during a pending divorce. The paramount problem of children during the divorce process is that the adults involved in marital strife are not looking for ways in which to help their children adjust to the transition, but are searching for ways to implement their own personal life readjustment† (Henning @ Oldham, 1977, p. 56). Parents neglect to talk to their child the divorce because they fear giving too much informatio n would be detrimental to the child. This lack of information causes the child to blame themselves for the divorce or to come up with their own explanations for their parent’s divorce, which could be worse than the actual reasons for the divorce. According to Gardner (1977), â€Å"To deprive the children of information regarding the major issues that brought about the divorce can only produce distrust of the parents at a time when they are most in need of a trusting relationship† (p. 4). Couples that have friendly, cooperative relationships do not usually get divorced. When a relationship deteriorates and a couple decides to divorce, and there is a child involved, they need to put aside their hostilities and focus on the needs of the child. A child who is a product of divorce who has loving, supportive, communicative parents is more likely to be happy and social well adjusted. Alternatively, a child who is a product of divorce and has parents who remain combative and hostile is more likely to suffer depression and have dysfunctional relationships throughout their life. References Cohen, G. (2002). Helping Children and Families Deal With Divorce and Separation. American Academy of Pediatrics, 110(6), 1019-1023. Gardner, R. (1977). CHILDREN OF DIVORCE-SOME LEGAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 6(2), 3-6. Henning, J. , Oldham, J. (1977). CHILDREN OF DIVORCE: LEGAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISES. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 6(2), 55-58. Hetherington, E. , Stanley-Hagan, M. (1999). The Adjustment of Children with Divorced Parents: A Risk and Resiliency Perspective. Journal of Child Psychology Psychiatry Allied Disciplines, 40(1), 129-140. Rosen, R. (1977). CHILDREN OF DIVORCE: WHAT THEY FEEL ABOUT ACCESS AND OTHER ASPECTS OF THE DIVORCE EXPERIENCE. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 6(2), 24-26. Sugar, M. (1970). CHILDREN OF DIVORCE. Pediatrics, 46(4), 588-595.

Evolution of the Floppy essays

Evolution of the Floppy essays Computers and computer technology have come a long way since the first home computers were invented in the early 70s. Over the past 30 years, computers and their accessories have all become compact. One item that has come a long way since its invention in 1971 is the memory disk, or floppy disk as it is now called. The floppy disk was first born as an 8 plastic disk with very little memory but over time slowly got smaller. It shrunk from 8 to 5 Â ¼ to 3 Â ½ and even to 3 but the 3 disk was discontinued. The floppy disks also increased the amount of saveable memory as they got smaller. They even became more versatile, which was appealing for computer customers in search of portable storage devices. The floppy disk forever changed the way computers were used and the way people saw computers. They made everyday computer tasks much easier for us. The floppy disk was revolutionary. IBM introduced the very first floppy disk in 1971. This memory disk as it was called at that time, was an 8 plastic disk coated with magnetic iron oxide; Data was written to read from the disks surface. The 8 plastic floppy disk was considered to be revolutionary during its time because not only was it considered to be a nice small size, but you could pretty much take it anywhere with you and put it in another computer to read the same data stored on that disk. The very large but very useful 8 floppy was just the start of what was to come within the next 20 years. The floppy disk was invented by IBM engineers led by none other than Alan Shugart. The first floppy disks his team created were just designed for loading micro codes into the controller of the IBM 3330 disk pack file. However, additional uses for the floppy disk quickly occurred. Some examples of these other uses were transferring documents from one computer to another, and creating copies of very import...

Nutrition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Nutrition - Essay Example On the other hand, a poor one has the potential of injuring health and leading to deficiency diseases such as kwashiorkor and scurvy and also threatening conditions like osteoporosis, obesity and diabetes. This paper will research on nutrition and the implications of both poor and proper diets. Gardner and Halweil (2000) opine that a good health goes beyond the absence of disease and reflects a positive quality of physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social well being. Only an optimum nutrition that provides all the essential amount and type of nutrients can achieve good health. The food people consume and their constituent nutrients are the most significant, long-term environmental factors that influence their health, development, growth and functional abilities (Zoellner, Bounds & Yadrick, 2009). Nutritional knowledge, especially including education for health professionals and the general public, is critical if the rate of premature mortality and morbidity must be redu ced significantly from the primary killer diseases. The way people structure their lives with proper health habits, nutrition and regular exercise will cut down on chronic diseases and medical expenditure. Depending on the quantities required by the body, the six classes of nutrients may further be categorized into either micronutrients or macronutrients (Bolin, Caplan, & Holyday, 2010). The body requires macronutrients in large amounts and they include proteins, carbohydrates, water and fats. The body uses lipids to build cell membranes, and amino acids are essential for the formation of proteins while carbohydrates and fats are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Vitamins and minerals fall under micronutrients. Apart from water and the fibrous content of food, all macronutrients provide the body with structural material and energy (Bolin, Caplan, & Holyday, 2010). This is the energy used to carry out all the activities of the body and the essential support of life. A dditionally, proteins are used in the repair and formation of tissue as well as various hormones and chemicals. Water is essential in eliminating the waste products of metabolism. Every food consumed has a direct impact on a person’s health. Certain levels of variation in quantities will lead to nutritional disease, which can be defined as disease or condition related to nutrition. The variations may include both excesses and deficiencies in one’s diet. Poor or unbalanced diets, and hence bad nutrition, cause developmental abnormalities and worsen chronic diseases. For instance, research has shown that diets high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat adversely affect health and well being (Bolin, Caplan, & Holyday, 2010). Such a diet places the consumer at a high risk of developing diseases such as cancers, diabetes, heart diseases and hypertension. On the other hand, nutritionists recommend diets high in fiber, calcium, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Such diets hav e the potential to reduce chances of most diseases by up to 80 percent. The research confirms that unhealthy eating habits are the leading causes of disease and disability as well as loss of independence. More significantly, the use (or abuse) of alcohol and tobacco should strictly be avoided, especially for persons with pre-existing conditions

Library Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Library Research Paper - Essay Example Instead of individual phonemes being connected to form the rudimentary parts of an out-loud language, sign language uses individual movements to create meaning. Nevertheless, the language itself is not merely a tool used by a particular community to express and communicate thoughts, emotions, and ideas to other people. A living object connects members of the deaf community across ethnographic boundaries, a range of diverse backgrounds, and a number of very different hearing loss disorders. In a rare look into the culture of deafness from a complex sociocultural perspective, anthropologists Richard J. Senghas and Leila Monaghan (2002) raised questions about community identity, language ideology, and cultural formation/maintenance, in an effort to learn about the kind of culture that deafness has produced within the last century. The researchers correctly identify deafness not merely as the absence of hearing, but as a community of many speakers with many different languages and cultur al practices. On a superficial level, the language of the deaf community reflects the nature of that community as one comprised of people who are inherently incapable of using the spoken word. Nevertheless, on a more fundamental level, the language of the deaf community reflects deafness as a matter of social construction, and that understanding the deaf language is instrumental to understanding the deaf community. Linguistic communities are collections of people who can and do communicate with one another using language. Deaf people, or members of the deaf community, participate in these linguistic communities through a fully-formed language that bears the hallmarks of all natural languages, as identified in Stokoe’s (1980) and Washabaugh’s (1981) surveys. The participation in a linguistic community means that the anthropological, sociological, and linguistic study of the deaf

Marketing Mix Essay Example for Free

Marketing Mix Essay Coffee is not just selling products, but it is a label. It is a label and a brand that consumers believe in. Starbucks decided to be personal with their customers. Understanding the consumers thoughts became a main goal for the marketing team. The marketing team understands that people want to belong and people want to feel they are being or doing something better than the quote on quote â€Å"others†. To relay these feelings to the customers Starbuck’s Coffee base the appeal on the environment that it provides for the customer. Starbuck’s Coffee expects customers to arrive at a given store, relax at a table, talk, read, listen to music, study and drink coffee. Starbucks also prides it’s self on diversity. Jim Donald, President and CEO of the Starbucks Corporation states, â€Å"When we embrace diversity, we succeed† (www. starbucks. com). Creating The Environment To create this type of environment Starbuck’s Coffee marketing team has placed conversation topics on the sides of each cup to spice up any meeting that one may have. Starbuck’s Coffee also allows all customers to have access to the internet which always can prolong a stay. Starbuck’s Coffee guarantee’s the average customer that is visiting a store; quick service with the surety to leave with the strong smell of a coffee house. They are so committed to having their stores feel and smell like a coffee house that they even prohibit their employees from wearing perfume and cologne because it takes away the aroma of the coffee. In addition, Starbuck’s Coffee makes sure that they are environmentally friendly so that it also adds to their image that they are promoting. Kembell, 2002). PLACE Typically their stores are in high traffic locations where people will just encounter the store without having to search. Starbucks is placed in high-visibility locations. These locations are geared with the average building size of 1,500 square feet. This includes office building, shopping malls, grocery stores, and retail centers. These are the type of area’s people love to be in and Starbucks location is an added topping for both retailers and customer’s alike. Starbucks has built relationships and formed agreements with several companies who they see have additional avenues to meeting customers. These companies include but are not limited to Kraft Foods Inc, PepsiCo Inc, and Dreyers Grand Ice Cream. These agreements were made to reach more Starbuck’s Coffee consumers where ever they are. Distribution Starbucks does not limit the company to a physical location. Starbucks distributes there products via mail orders and online web-sites. Both of these avenues are used for the convenience of its customers. Again independent of the customers, anywhere any place when needed Starbucks is ready and available. Promotion Starbuck uses non-traditional forms of advertising. They use local print ads and imagery in movies to advertise. It is all about the label. It is the women on the cup says more than words. You see the label, and you sense the coffee. Price The products/label of Starbucks Coffee has been marketed so well that price is not a matter. People who come to Starbuck’s Coffee are buying the experience. The experience in many ways is priceless. The effects The marketing strategy for products that the marketing team used was branding the full experience. With the use of custom coffee beans, CD’s, coffee cups, signature chocolate, and an out of this world eco-friendly lay out; Starbucks has maintained a brand consumers believe in. The marketing strategy for place that the marketing team used was connecting with other companies to partner up and build relationships and formed agreements with several companies who they see have additional avenues to meeting customers.

Explorers of Africa :: Geography

Explorers of Africa Mungo Park was a Scottish explorer who led one of the first expeditions to investigate the course of the Niger river in Western Africa. Mungo Park was a 23 year-old scottish surgeon who had just returned from a journey to Sumatra on a ship of the East India Company. There he had discovered 6 species of fish, and he had published descriptions in a Scientific Journal. In 1795, Park had gone to Piscina, on an offer to research further into Africa. Park had accepted and a severe fever overcame him during his journey. Park also had been captured by certain muslim leaders. After he had gotten out of the Prison he had wandered around and had finally found the Niger River. Park was amazed at how beautiful the River was. Park had stated "I saw with infinite pleasure, the object of my, mission". Park had returned home to London where became famous on his publications of his voyage across Africa. Later in 1806 he sailed downstream to the Bussa rapids, where he drowned, trying to escape an attack by the Africans. Rene Callie was a 27 year old man who was fascinated by the stories told about peoples travels to Africa. His readings of Mungo park also stimulated his fascination. Callie had entered a contest for the first person to reach Timbuktu and reach back. He had reached Timbuktu. During Callie's trip he did not find it easy to prove to the French Authorities that a young man with no experience could discover Timbuktu. On his way back Callie had joined a Arab Caravan preparing to cross from Western Sahara to Morocco. Callie had stated "I am the first European to cross from the sandy ocean from the south to the north". On his return to Paris, Callie was known as a hero. Later, questions were asked if he was telling the truth or not. Johann Rebmann Johann Rebmann was a German missionary, who was not like Mungo Park or Rene Callie. The purpose of Rebmann's explorations is to find a place where he might serve God. His most helpful weapon was a umbrella, which he used to fight off lions and would be attackers. Rebmann was the european explorer who kept a careful record of his journey. Together with his

Drinking Ticket Paper

The Worst night Ever It was a long, full day of work and I was ready to get back to the dorm to relax and have some fun, after all, it was my best friends birthday. We decided to go out for his birthday dinner for him and have a few drinks before we headed out. We had music cranking, we were singing and having a good end of the week party. Drinks began passing around and we took a turn for the worst, an RA outside our door smelled alcohol. Immediately the RA told us to open up to see what was going on, as if he didn’t already know, he too is a college student.So we all knew we had been caught so we let him come in to give us our punishments and go on with our soon to be sober lives. But as he walked in the room, cops decided to take a peak at what was going on. The RA told us he was upset with the cops â€Å"randomly showing up† but I didn’t believe him, and I still don’t. The cops made the RA walk us to the sinks with our pride and joy and dump it all dow n the drain. He was surprised as to how cooperative we were and almost let us off the hook for a violation, but realized we were income for him.So he got the breathalyzer out, skipped our rights and handed all of us drinking tickets like he’d done many times before. I have never been so upset in my life; so mad I started punching my bed and pillow. What I thought was going to be the peak of my week turned out to go down the drain just like my Wild Turkey 101. Looking back at it now, I don’t feel like it has impacted me as bad as I thought it was going to. Yes, my bank account is feeling the pain, but my hands have finally stopped hurting. I have gotten a lawyer who told me to do 24 hours of community service and take a drinking class by my court date.Not too bad, the punishment could be much worse. The drinking ticket hasn’t stopped me from going out, but it has stopped me from drinking. Since then I haven’t had a sip of alcohol at school and I actually e njoy it, watching other people do dumb stuff is just as fun as actually drinking, and it’s legal! I sure have learned my lesson just as I always do, the hard way. How this can affect my future Before this ticket ever happened, I had never thought how much a drinking ticket could really affect my life, nor did I think I would ever get one.Since the ticket I have put a lot of thought into how it can affect my near future as well as my far future. Now that I have a drinking ticket, employers could not higher me because of suspicion that I would break other laws to give him or her company a bad name. Also with this ticket I have a misdemeanor on my record. I never thought of myself being a criminal or having a bad record, but now I have one for a stupid think I did one night. Because of this being on my record, a policeman could take me to jail for something small such as a speeding ticket.The worst part of having the drinking ticket is that the school has put me on probation. I didn’t think this was a big deal because my grades are fine, but when I went to go and register for new classes I have to call the school and get my account temporarily upheld. This made registration for my class in the spring semester a lot harder than it usually is because all the classes that I wanted to take were either filled up or at a point in the day that I don’t want to be in class (8am). Because of this awful timing, I may sleep in through my classes and get a lower grade than I would like to have.One other thing that the drinking ticket has taken away from my future is that Campus Living will not hire me as a Resident Advisor because I can’t be trusted. Goals Since I have entered college I have set many goals for myself, most of these being current grades. Some of the goals that I have look into the future and those are the ones that can be most affected by this ticket. I want to maintain a 3. 0 GPA at the very lowest so that I can chose which major I want as a graduate student.This ticket has made this a lot harder to happen because of the amount of community service that I have had to do in the past few weeks, I have no spare time to relax either, but that’s what college is about. Because I am on probation with the school I couldn’t register for the classes that I wanted because I had to wait for the school to unlock my account. Because of this I now have a harder schedule and may not do as well as planned. I do believe that I can work through these classes next semester if I can manage to wake up on time.Other goals that I have at ECU is to be more involved and even president of a few clubs at the school. I have not looked into this part, but a drinking ticket could dictate whether or not I am able to run this part of the club. Since I have been at ECU I have met many friends and have had a great time, even with all the work that is contently due. I am hoping that this drinking ticket doesn’t affect my fu ture here at school and can get taken off of my record. Since the ticket I have not had a sip of alcohol and don’t plan to until I turn 21, I think I can wait another year and a half, not a big deal in my mind.I’ll just watch other people get into trouble and make fools of themselves when they are out trying to have fun and meet new people. In a way I am sort of thankful that this has happened. I am also glad that the turnout has not been as bad as I originally thought it was going to be. I could have had to go to jail or been in far more trouble with the school, so that’s one way to look at the situation positively. I am very sorry for drinking on campus and will not let it happen again, I don’t even want to drink anymore now that I have stopped for a few months.