Impact of Divorce to Children

Adolescent adjustment and well-being: Effects of parental divorce and distress
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of divorce or separation on an adolescent’s psychological adjustment, investigate if there are any gender differences in the effect of divorce, the impact of time on the adolescent after divorce, and the effect of divorce on the adolescent after controlling for parental symptoms of depression and anxiety (Størksen, Røysamb, Holmen, & Tambs, 2006).
The independent variables for this study were divorce and parental distress. These two variables were selected because the researchers wanted to establish the effect of divorce on adolescents and compare it to those of adolescents whose parents had not divorced or separated. Adolescents who had grown up with one parent were included in the no divorce group since they had only known a single parent. Parental distress was used to determine the impact this would have on an adolescent and compare it to that of a parent who does not have distress.
The dependent variables for this study were symptoms of anxiety and depression (SCL-5), subjective well-being (SWB), academic performance, conduct, and dissatisfaction. Academic, conduct, and dissatisfaction were school-related problems. The researchers wanted to determine the effects of divorce on Scandinavian adolescents for these five variables and compare them to those od adolescents whose parents did not have a divorce. This would allow the researchers to determine if there is any effect on the lives of an adolescent based on the divorce of the parents.
In this study, the researchers hypothesized that divorce has a direct effect on adolescent distress and resultant school problems.
Literature
The study has used the epidemiological framework. This framework is used to evaluate the correlation between exposure to something and the adverse health effects. For this study, the researchers wanted to evaluate the correlation between being exposed to parental divorce and parental distress of children and adolescents and its adverse effects on the health of adolescents. Other adverse effects that the researchers wanted to evaluate are the problems in school that the adolescent is faced with. Adolescents exposed to divorce are compared to adolescents who have not been exposed to divorce. The area of focus is the same and the age, sex, race, and social status is similar for both groups.
According to Størksen et al. (2006) divorce is quite common and it involves children. There have been numerous studies that have been carried out analyzing the effect of divorce on children and adolescents in the United States and Britain. All these studies have shown that children do have adjustment problems and their well-being is affected. This has made divorce and child adjustment to be labeled as a public health issue. There is an indication that boys will externalize problems as compared to girls after a divorce. However, this is now being questioned with other researchers demonstrating that by the age of 15 there is no much difference between boys and girls externalizing their problems. What is lacking in the literature is a study of the effects on Scandinavian countries or populations and this is what has led to the current study.
Methodology
The study participants were all residents of Nord-Trøndelag, which is a county in Norway and contains about 3% of the Norwegian population (Størksen et al., 2006). Everyone aged 20 years and above received an invitation to participate in the HUNT II study. A total of 66,140 people were eligible to participate among who 46.7% were men (Størksen et al., 2006). The young participants were recruited through the local school system. All students who were aged 13 to 19 were invited to participate. A total of 8,984 adolescents took part in the study with boys accounting for 50.3% (Størksen et al., 2006). The mean age was 16 years.
The researchers conducted a mixed-methods study. The adolescent participants were grouped into two. Divorce and no divorce group. The assignment to either group was done based on the participant’s response to answering the question regarding divorce. Any participant that did not answer this question was not included in the analysis. There was no special treatment of any of the participant groups as the researchers only aimed at evaluating the effect of divorce on adolescents as compared to adolescents whose parents have not divorced.
The researchers made use of data from HUNT II to estimate the psychological distress amongst the parents of the targeted subjects (Størksen et al., 2006). For the adolescents, they were required to complete a questionnaire that was to be completed in one school hour. Physical examinations and structured interviews were also conducted. Each adolescent was required to sign a written consent for participation in the study and adolescents below the age of 16 had to get signed consent from one of their parents.
Findings
For the divorce group symptoms of anxiety and depression increase with age with girls reporting the most symptoms as compared to boys. Subjective well-being is lower for older adolescents than that of the younger ones and boys have reported having higher subjective well-being. Academic problems are more in girls than in boys, though the difference is small (Størksen et al., 2006). For both sexes, academic problems increase with age. Boys have reported more conduct problems than girls. There were moderate but significant mean differences between the two groups (divorce and no divorce). The study results clearly show that adolescents whose parents have divorced have distress as compared to those whose parents have not divorced.
The huge number of study participants and a high level of participation is a strength of this study. This makes the study credible and representative of the population. The collection of data through self-reporting allows the participants to offer genuine answers as they do not fear being judged by the answers they give. The study managed to link family members through the public registry, which ensured that both parents were linked to the adolescent. This gave the study data from both parents instead of only from one parent.
The researcher relied upon cross-sectional data, which has a limitation on cause and effect. There was no way for the researchers to control for family conflict. It is noted that family conflict before the divorce could be the cause of child adjustment problems after the divorce. Størksen et al. (2006) did not have a way of separating the effects of divorce and those of parental conflict before the divorce. While the study had a high participation rate, this is not a guarantee that the study is free of recruitment bias. A child who grows up in a single-parent home would likely develop a psychiatric disease, death, or drug and alcohol-related disorders. This would likely lead to the child not participating in the study.
This study has shed light on how divorce has affected adolescents living in Scandinavian countries. The lack of research focusing on this demographic meant that people had to rely on the data from other areas and fit it for this particular population. This study has managed to link both parents with their children, which gives more credible information as compared to having data from one parent mostly the mother. The results of this study will shed light on the impact that divorce for this population and how adolescents get affected. The Scandinavian culture differs from that of other countries like Europe and America, research needed to be conducted to conclusively determine if adolescents from Scandinavian countries are affected by parental divorce.
References
Størksen, I., Røysamb, E., Holmen, T. L., & Tambs, K. (2006). Adolescent adjustment and well being: effects of parental divorce and distress. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 47(1), 75-84.