EFFECTS OF DIVORCE.   Term Paper ID:26497 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Impact on women & children, especially in poor families, gender inequities, child support, social & psychological aspects. remarriage.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Impact on women & children, especially in poor families, gender inequities, child support, social & psychological aspects. remarriage. Paper Introduction: Divorce in the United States is especially devastating to women and children because it contributes to the feminization of poverty. Divorce is an issue that is currently being addressed by various political leaders who see a high divorce rate as evidence of social decay, and there are efforts under way to make divorce more difficult by returning the emphasis to fault. Marriages are subject to a number of divisive forces, from external pressures such as job loss, illness, infertility, and the need to care for aging parents. Some marriages survive, while others do not. People also have habits and attitudes which may be divisive and which they may not be able to overcome in marriage. Divorce tends to be harder on women than men because men are more likely to have careers and jobs while the women are more likely to be dependent; in addition, women who do or can work Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Children have been a particular concern for couples when consideringdivorce. Marriages are subject to a number of divisive forces, from externalpressures such as job loss, illness, infertility, and the need to care foraging parents. Thesingle-parent family that is left after divorce is growing in number, andthe statistics now show that 5 percent of couples married since 197 and33 percent of those married since 195 are divorced and that one out ofevery six children under 18 lives with only one parents. Economic roles within the family have shiftedsignificantly in the post-World War II years, and regardless of thepresence of children, including infants, wives now are more likely to workoutside the home than to work solely as homemakers (Wetzel 4-5). Researchers have found that childrenwhose parents remarry after divorce still seem to do at least as badly atschool and in their personal lives as those whose parents raise them single-handed. The main form of communityproperty in most marriages is the earning capacity of the husband, and thisis not deemed to be property and is kept entirely by the husband alone(Eden 57-58). Researchers note that a complex set ofcircumstances is involved in the feminization of poverty. The breakup of the natural family has already created thedistortion in the child's life, and a remarriage only introduces a newfactor and a new source of potential tension between the new husband andthe child in the home. This is an unintended consequence of liberalized divorce lawson the one hand and economic problems for certain communities on the other. The feminization of poverty has been noted by sociologists and hasbeen related to the divorce rate. "American Families: 75 Years ofChange." Monthly Labor Review, 4-13. (March 199 ). Other tensions in asingle-parent household may be magnified because the mother must work andso has less time for her children. Boston: St.Martin's Press, 158-171. Divorce in the United States is especially devastating to women andchildren because it contributes to the feminization of poverty. TheEconomist , A33. Lindsey, Karen. Often, child support is not sufficientfor this purpose, may not provide for child care, or may be non-existentbecause of spouses who refuse to pay. Social welfare agencies provide some assistance but can only go so farin alleviating this problem. Researchers find that typically, the husband retainstwo thirds of his income after divorce for himself, while the wife andchildren (usually a total of three people) received only one third. Smart. The degree of poverty experienced by women and children may depend onthe age of the children as mothers must say home with smaller children andmay be able to work with older children. Many of these women are under-educated and under-trained and cannot get good enough jobs to support their families, and inaddition they must continue in their role as mother (and now father) at thesame time. Edelman, M.W. "They muck you up: divorce and children." (March 2 , 1993). Popenoe, David. "Divorce's Toll on Children."Current , 29-33. The evidence shows that some of theseeffects seem to be linked to the way divorce lowers the living standards ofchildren, while some are linked to the misery of parental separation ("TheyMuck You Up: Divorce and Children" A33). (March 1, 1996). almost without it being noted,and they have done so by combining work outside the home with theirdomestic and child care responsibilities. Child support is a consequence of divorce in amarriage with children, and this can lead to further family strain (Brophyand Smart 1 2). People alsohave habits and attitudes which may be divisive and which they may not beable to overcome in marriage. Wetzel, James R. Much information has been gathered to show thenature of the problem and that there are class and racial differences inthe way children experience divorce. The question may be raised as to whether delinquency and other socialproblems are the result of divorce itself or of the poverty that oftenaccompanies it. Goldberg, Gertrude Schaffner and Eleanor Kremen. Children are adversely affected by being shunted between two homes.Where there are obvious economic differences between the two situations, asis evident when the father retains much of his earning power while themother does not, resentment against the mother may grow because she is notable to provide as well. The trauma of losing the natural father to divorceis not overcome by remarriage, for the presence of a surrogate father doesnot seem to help. Divorce has an adverse effect on children, somuch so that Princeton University sociologists now report that children ofdivorced parents prove more likely to leave school and home early and havebabies outside wedlock than children who lose parents through death orwhose parents remained together. (1994). One-third of children of divorcedparents never see their father, and over half of them see their absentparent (usually the father) less than once a month. This is a chicken-or-egg question that cannot be answeredfully. (1995). Children living with one parent are generally not aswell off financially and are more likely to have repeated a grade in schoolthan children living with both parents (Chisholm 36). Women thus emerge from a marriage on the average in worse financialshape than do males. Many women remarry, but the effect on children may be harder toaddress. TheFeminization of Poverty. Since 1972, more than a million youngsters have been involved in a divorce each year (Zinsmeister 29). (Spring 1995). Divorce often results in economichardship, psychological problems, reconstituted families, and overwhelmedparents. Each day, 2,989 children see their parents divorce, andit is estimated that 59 percent of all children will live in a single-parent household before reaching age 18 (Edelman 6-12). "A World Without Fathers." TheWilson Quarterly, 12-29. Factors affecting thefrequency of contact of a child with an absent parent include the maritalstatus of the custodial parent, the length of time the parents have beenseparated, the educational level of the householder, whether there isparent figure of the opposite sex present, and whether the children areborn outside wedlock. Divorce tends to be harder on women than menbecause men are more likely to have careers and jobs while the women aremore likely to be dependent; in addition, women who do or can work but whohave children are then faced with the difficulty of working and caring fortheir children at the same time. The needs of thechildren become secondary in this whole process, which often develops intoa contest between two uncooperative individuals, both of whom may besuffering in a variety of ways (Brophy and Smart 154). Zinsmeister, Karl. The presence of children may keep some couples together when theywould otherwise divorce, but this seems to be having less and less of aneffect as the divorce rate increases. If the economic position can beimproved, the other tensions and problems can be isolated better andaddressed by outside agencies in a more direct manner. The number ofchildren in families headed by a woman more than doubled between 1954 and1975 (Lindsey 159). (199 ). Such agencies are under a strain, and in anycase they can only alleviate some of the economic issues and not theproblem as a whole. Some marriages survive, while others do not. League of Women Voters of Texas Education Fund. Many mothers are in the family courts because the formerhusband has failed to make payments for the care of his children. As noted, both divorce and poverty contribute to the problems forchildren, and divorce adds to the level of poverty. Women areincreasingly a part of the overall labor force, but much of the work doneby women is unpaid. As Zinsmeister notes, Originally, notes family historian John Sommerville, marriage arose to create "security for the children to be expected from the union." Yet nowadays "the child's interest in the permanence of marriage is almost ignored." During the divorce boom that began in the mid-196 s, divorces affecting children went up even faster than divorces generally, and today most crack-ups involve kids. Asimilar unequal division occurs when the community property is "equallydivided" so that the husband, one person, gets one half, and the wife andchildren, usually three persons, get one half. JuvenileViolence and the Juvenile Justice System in Texas: Facts and Issues.Austin, Texas: League of Women Voters of Texas Education Fund, 1994. Women-in-Law. Data from a supplement to theNational Health Interview Survey of 1981 indicate that 73 percent of whitechildren live with both biological parents; this figure is 38 percent forblacks and 67 percent for Hispanics. Divorce isan issue that is currently being addressed by various political leaders whosee a high divorce rate as evidence of social decay, and there are effortsunder way to make divorce more difficult by returning the emphasis tofault. Such strains also affect certain groups in society more than others,adding to existing poverty in the ghetto, or radically altering thelifestyle children have known before the divorce. . . Women also hold a lower position in the labor market,earning lower wages. The effect of divorce on children has been a theme in psychology andsociology for some time. Strains may affectgroups seen as less likely to be so affected, as when it is found that thegreatest impact appears to be on middle-class children since they areroughly three times as likely to drop out of high school if their parentssplit up ("They Muck You Up: Divorce and Children" 33). Often the strainsthat cause divorce become increased as a consequence of divorce. Since remarriage generally restores family income, poverty isclearly not the whole story ("They Muck You Up: Divorce and Children" 33). Social tensions producing moreand more divorce contributed to the growing number of families with womenas head of household. As divorce becomes more common, the economic strain onsociety as a whole also increases, making it less likely that socialwelfare agencies can fill the gap. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. Statistics showthat youth from broken homes are more likely to enter the juvenile justicesystem (League of Women Voters of Texas Education Fund), probably becauseof lack of parental supervision. It has been found in fact that children in stepfamiliesleave such households at an earlier age than do kids in single-parenthouseholds or in two-parent households (Popenoe 14). women have not been able to participate in work outside the home on an equal footing with men (Goldberg and Kremen 3).Women have assumed a dual role in the U.S. (1985). The relationship between divorce and children in poverty is aparticular concern, contributing to higher delinquency rates and othersocial problems. (February 1, 1997). Divorce has a detrimental effect onall members of the family, notably on the children who do not understandwhy these stresses are being created or why they are made to feelresponsible for them. The best answer is to find a way to help these families and to givesingle-parent mothers more opportunity. Even in the latter case, though,economic hardships may force the older children to work sooner than theymight otherwise or to give up plans to go to college. "Friends as Family." "Envy." In RereadingAmerica, Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle (eds.). One reason for this is the nature of the dual rolethat women have assumed in industrialized societies: Because they have continued to perform unpaid domestic work in the home. London: Routledge &Kegan Paul. "United We Stand: A Common Vision."Claiming Children, 1, 6-12. Thejudge is frequently faced with the situation of trying to get child supportfrom a father who is also facing financial difficulties. Works Cited Brophy, J., and C. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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