Cody Grames

Ms. Hull
English 2010 (11:30-1:00)
September 22, 2015
Divorce is a problem that effects many. Although there are many
aspects to divorce this paper will focus on the effects a divorce has on
children. Dale Bagshaw from the university of South Australia was involved in
a research project conducted in 2007 called Reshaping Responses to
Children When Parents are Separating: Hearing Childrens Voices in the
Transition. Bagshaws work focused on hearing childrens accounts of their
needs and experiences during the transition in order to help these children
and future children develop properly. E. Mavis Hetherington, professor of
phycology from the university of Virginia and author of For Better or For
Worse: divorce reconsidered, believes divorce isnt always negative and can
be the start for a new life. Taina huurre, Hanna Junkkari, and Hilleyi Aro
conducted a study called Long-term Psychosocial effects of parental divorce;
a follow-up study from adolescence to adulthood. They began their study
with children whose parents were currently separating and followed them on
into adulthood to compare their lives to other children/adults whose parents
remained together till death.
Dale Bagshaw believes there are many stressors that come along with
divorce, they all build on one another causing a substantial amount of stress
on children. For example: moving in-between two households and deciding
what to take with them, accommodating the absence of a parent, unfamiliar

schedules, different house rules and physical spaces, etc. Out of all the
stressors during divorce the biggest one tends to be conflict in-between
parents says Bagshaw. Children love and have some sort of attachment to
their parents so it causes them to feel torn in-between the two, especially
when one despises the other. To further his research Bagshaw did 19 phone
interviews, which included 10 girls and 9 boys. He asked them a whole array
of questions including their major worries, their responses where fear,
sadness, guilt, loyalty issues, self blame, and insecurity. Then Bagshaw asked
what their fears were. One boy named Archie who lived with his father said,
Im frightened dad might hit me. Dad hits me with his belt when he takes
drugs. Karla, who lived with her mother said, dad threatened to come up
with a chainsaw I heard him tell mum. Dad was told not to come to pick us
up. I was scared he would come to school and take us away. Despite the
negative Bagshaw's discovered that although children are harmed my
parental separation, most do better in the long run if they are given the
correct help and support. The children that benefit most are ones who
witnessed domestic violence. Recently, there was been a push to listen to
the voices of children experiencing parent separation. Research has found
when childrens preferences are taken into consideration when agreeing
upon the terms of the divorce the child functions are significantly better with
the situation (Bagshaw).
Divorce can be the most beneficial life decision or the most
devastating according to E. Mavis Hetheringinton. She says some become

more successful after the divorce knowing their children are safe and no
longer having to deal with the stress of divorcer. However, some fall off the
deep end because they relied too heavily on the other spouse or theyre
trying to fill the void with unhealthy habits. This can translate onto the
children when they see their parents fail or succeed. Children tend to follow
in the footsteps of their parents especially when they are particularly close to
one or the other (Hetherington). However divorce is such a complex situation
with many factors and which leads to multiple outcomes. For the majority of
the time children adapt fairly well. Hetherington found that 25% of children
who experience divorce have been found to have serious emotional, social,
and psychological problems; only 15% more than kids of intact families.
Hetheringtons research shows that although at the time of the divorce the
children were experiencing extreme emotional and psychological pain most
were successful at going about the tasks of adulthood: establishing careers,
creating intimate relationships, and building meaningful lives for
themselves. (Hetherington)
Tania huurre Ph.D., Hanna junkkair M.D., and Hilleyi Aro M.D. Ph.D.
worked together on the research project called; Long-term Psychosocial
effects of parental divorce: A follow-up study from adolescence to adulthood.
During this study they assessed the psychosocial wellbeing of children
through adulthood and compared the result to others with intact families.
They found there is almost always some sort of damage done to a child of
divorce. They also found that experiencing divorce as a child led to riskier

behaviors such as smoking and hazardous consumption of alcohol. As adults

these children on average experienced more depression than adults whose
parents never divorced and where less likely to return to school after high
school. The researchers claim their research reveals that parental divorce is
an indicator of such stress in childhood that its influences persist well into
adulthood. Nonetheless in conclusion they state despite the level of stress
the children experienced during the separation of their parents they adapted
fairly well psychosocially.
Based on their studies each researcher has a valid point. Bagshaw
showed divorce turns a childs life upside down. More so than anyone one
else in my research Bagshaw applied to the rhetorical appeal of pathos when
he used direct quotes from the children he interviewed. It hits hard when
Archie, one of the children he interview said. Im frightened dad might hit
me. Dad hits me with his belt when he takes drugs. When it comes to logos
or pathos concerning domestic violence many will say Bagshaw took the best
approach by applying to our emotional appeal. E Mavis Hetherington takes a
positive approach to Divorce in her book and is a mixture of both logos and
pathos appeals. Her book is written towards people currently going through
divorce that are struggling and unaware of the path they are taking. She tries
to ease the pain of the struggling readers by using research. A special focus
of her book is children. Many parents going through divorce are worried they
will destroy the lives of their children. Hetherington has said if families get to
the point of divorce it is usually for the better, especially if its a domestic

violence situation. If the parents can stay strong and can continue to provide
for the children adequately then the children in time usually adapt to the
situation. Taina huurre, Hanna Junkkari, and Hilleyi Aro stay on the lines of
logical appeal. Their Article is strictly statistics. Their research shows there is
almost always some psychosocial damage done to a child during divorce yet
the severity depends strictly on the specific situation that child endured. I
noticed throughout all my research that all authors all agreed on one thing. If
divorce is handled with care and the appropriate precautions are taken with
children they will usually adapt. That is not always the case and it is shown
there are many extremes as to what can happen however most children will
usually adapt fairly well with minimal damage done. All the researchers used
had a great appeal to ethos or in other words their credibility.
Divorce is an extremely complex concept to understand. Each major
study is done with such care in order to get correct results though many of
the studies asking similar questions can come up with very different results.
Because there are so many factors involved in a divorce for example: culture,
religion, mental state of parents, reasoning for separation, so on and so
forth, it becomes difficult to predict how the whole situation will unfold. From
what the research says most children will adapt fairly well to divorce and
should continue on the path towards normal development with minimal
damage.

Works Cited
Bagshaw, Dale. "Reshaping Responses to Children." Australian Social Work 60, no. 4 (2007).
Hetherington, E. Mavis, and John Kelly. For Better or for Worse: Divorce Reconsidered. New
York: W.W. Norton, 2002. Print.
Huurre4, T., Junkkari, H., & Aro, H. (2006). Long-term Psychosocial effects of parental divorce.
doi:DOI 10.1007/s00406-006-0641-y