Single-Parent Families.

Essay by wiseguy_akhileshHigh School, 11th gradeA, July 2003

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Single-Parents Families

In response to:

Children of divorced parents tend to have more problems in school.

In 1971 a study on the effects of divorce was conducted by a group of psychologists on 131 children. The children were all from middle-class families, and throughout their experiences did not suffer from significant economic insecurity. Follow-ups of the children were done 5, 10, and 15 years after the divorce of their parents, thus spanning a significant portion of their lives. What the study found showed that the children suffered from many problems later in their lives, problems that can probably be attributed to their parents' divorces:

"Five years after divorce more than a third of the children experienced moderate or severe depression, they also showed a lack of interest in their studies. At ten years a significant number of the now young men and women appeared to be troubled, drifting, and underachieving.

At fifteen years many of the adults who were in their thirties were struggling to establish healthy relationships of their own. In short, far from recovering from their parents' divorce, a significant percentage of these grown-ups were still suffering from its effects. In fact, according to analysis, the long-term effects of divorce emerge at a time when young adults are trying to make their own decisions about marriage and family. Not all the children in the study suffered negative consequences. But according to this research the child of divorced parents faced many additional psychological burdens.

Additional research has confirmed this study. A social scientist named Nicholas Zill found that children from disrupted families are almost twice as likely to leave high school before graduation. Research also indicates that children of divorce are more likely to do badly in school, and have more behavioral problems. The risk of sexual or...