Divorce and Children: A Research Methodology Proposal

Introduction

The issue of divorce is complex and sensitive, particularly for families with children, whose lives are dramatically altered by the eventual or sudden revelation of their parents' separation. Child psychologists have taken a particular interest in the effects of divorce on children, debating the extent to which divorce may or may not be psychologically devastating to the child in the long term. This debate is at the center of the present research proposal and drives the suggested methodology outlined below.

The intention of the proposed research is to bring greater objectivity to a discussion that has in many ways been shaped by assumption rather than by empirical findings. The guiding presumption entering this research process is that the findings would ultimately demonstrate that previously held assumptions attributing negative emotional, psychological, sociological, or developmental consequences in children to parental divorce are relevant but somewhat exaggerated.

Research Method and Sample Design

The overarching research objective is to determine the impact of divorce on children with greater objectivity than has been accomplished in previous studies. In particular, the research is intended to challenge the notion that divorce inherently produces an array of negative consequences related to emotional, psychological, sociological, or developmental distress. Many prior studies on this subject begin from the position of examining the presence of such dysfunction in children of divorce. This research will instead begin from a position of examining normal and healthy functionality in children of divorce compared to that in children of intact family units.

Because this approach is designed to avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy that often occurs when respondents are led to scrutinize the presence of dysfunction, the data will be collected through an independent, mixed methodology combining a case study and a survey-based study. The case study will center on the students of a single suburban high school.

The entire student body will be invited to participate, though participation will be voluntary. Ideally, the student body will consist of roughly 1,500 students with at least a 30% participation rate, which should provide an adequate sampling of the target population. The target population will be drawn from a middle-class suburban high school for several reasons. Chief among them, high school-aged students are likely old enough to address the challenging questions that may be posed in the survey regarding the emotional and psychological consequences of parental divorce. Likewise, by this age, most students are expected to possess sufficient academic competence to express themselves accurately in a self-reporting format such as a survey.

The high school serves as an appropriate research context because, as a self-contained community, it offers researchers a measure of control over variables. Specifically, the suburban high school provides a degree of socioeconomic homogeneity and reduces the likelihood of confounding factors in emotional and psychological development — such as high exposure to poverty, crime, drug abuse, addiction, sexual abuse, physical abuse, or parental incarceration — which, while possible anywhere, are statistically less common in middle-class communities.

Survey Instrument Design

Data will be collected using a survey instrument designed by the researchers specifically for this study. The instrument will feature two sections. The first section will ask for brief familial and biographical information. Most importantly, it will ask about the life and marital status of the respondents' parents, accounting for single mothers, single fathers, legal non-biological guardians, divorced parents, remarried parents, and currently married parents. This section will also ask for information about siblings and other particulars of the family living situation. Surveys will not ask for names or other individual identifiers, ensuring anonymity and privacy for all respondents.

The second section will collect data using a Fixed Alternatives Likert Scale. Twenty statements will be presented to each respondent, who will be asked to select one of five numbered responses:

–2. Strongly Disagree    –1. Disagree    0. Neutral    1. Agree    2. Strongly Agree

Each response generates a score, and all responses together contribute to a composite score determining the respondent's relative adjustment. Here, "relative adjustment" refers to the emotional, psychological, sociological, and developmental well-being of the respondent, independent of his or her parents' marital status. Relative adjustment will be measured by posing statements that assert the positive, balanced, and functional aspects of a household and living situation. These statements will address parental attentiveness, the respondent's sense of personal well-being, feelings of support and comfort at home, and an array of additional factors typically used to assess well-being as defined here.

Conclusion

It is ultimately expected that the variation in relative adjustment between respondents whose parents are married and those whose parents are divorced will be more modest than prior research assumptions have posited. Indeed, it is not entirely out of the question that the distinction in relative adjustment between children of divorced parents and children of married parents may prove to be statistically insignificant.