Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

M.Ed. / Divorce is one of the most traumatic experiences that families can encounter. Children suffer when parents divorce and much research has been done on the effects that divorce has on young children in terms of their social, socio-economic and psychological development. As a result of this extensive research, parents are aware that, if they divorce when their children are young, it may have negative effects on their children’s development. Hence, some couples wait until they believe their children are mature enough to understand the situation and to deal with the consequences, thereby limiting any possible damage. These parents often wait for their children to complete their senior secondary education before moving forward with divorce proceedings. They believe that this is the right time to divorce. This research study uses a Qualitative Research Paradigm to investigate the effects that waiting to divorce has on the young adult child and his or her relationships and future career opportunities. The theoretical framework for this study includes understanding Systems Theory, the family life cycle, the development of personality in the young adult and the nature and stages of divorce. The research study shows that young adult children do experience hardship particular to their stage of development when their parents divorce. In particular, they find themselves caught between stages of their lives. They are on the cusp of two worlds – school and their future careers. Interviews were used as a method of data collection. Three participants were selected to form part of the study and in-depth interviews were conducted to understand the experiences and perceptions of these individuals. The findings were analysed and recorded. The data was interpreted from which conclusions were drawn and recommendations made.

It has been suggested that 25% of marriages in Canada are remarriages (Schlesinger, 1981). In such remarriages it has been recommended that the non-custodial parent have minimal contact with the new family (Goldstein, Freud & Solnit, 1973). More recently, therapists have begun to recognise the importance of having permeable boundaries in remarriage families which allow all significant family members to stay involved (Messinger, 1985; Sager et al., 1983). This research study Included 33 families in which the wife had remarried after a divorce, and had children from the previous marriage. A total of 105 subjects participated including 33 wives, 30 stepfathers and 42 adolescents. Employing an anonymous questionnaire format, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) There is a significant relationship between the wife's contact with her former spouse and family cohesion. (2) There is a relationship between contact with the former spouse and marital adjustment. (3) There is a positive relationship between balanced cohesion and marital adjustment. (4) There will be less variance between family members on cohesiveness when there is moderate contact with the former spouse. The total frequency of contact was assessed over a three month period, and subjects were grouped according to No Contact, Telephone Contact Only and Personal Contact. Eighty-two percent of the children were found to have contact with their non-custodial father once per month or less. Statistical analysis supported the relationship between marital adjustment and former spouse contact. Pearson Correlation Coefficients revealed a significant relationship between cohesion and marital adjustment. The strongest relationships were found in the husband scores in both cases. The relationship between cohesion and frequency of contact with the former spouse was not statistically significant. No significant difference in variance on cohesion scores was found between groups with No Contact or Personal Contact with the former spouse. The sample was found to be within the norms (Spanier, 1976) on the marital adjustment measure, and significantly below established norms (Olson et al., 1985) on cohesion. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1993. / The aim of this study was: * to describe the life-world of the children of divorced parents from a psychopedagogical perspective at the hand of relevant research literature; * in the light of the findings obtained from the literature study establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to meet the needs of the children of divorced parents. In our society of today divorce is increasingly common. Latest divorce figures released by the Central Statistical Services in Pretoria show that in 1990 more than 20 000 Whites, 5 217 Coloureds and 1 421 Asians were divorced. There are no figures at present available for the Black population, although it is believed that divorce is on the increase in this community. Most divorcing parents are aware of the conflicting interests of parents and children and usually want to know how they can best help their children cope with C vi ] what is often a frightening and emotional stressful period in their lives. The first year after divorce is characterized for both parents and children by anxiety, depression, anger, with feelings of rejection and incompetence. Demoralization caused by negative feelings about the divorce causes parents to be less concerned about their children. The children in turn feel confused and resentful, become more provocative and difficult with their parents. They react to stress by nagging, whining, showing an increase in aggressive behaviour, and becoming more disobedient. From a psychopedagogical perspective the children of divorced parents find themselves in a dysfunctional educational relationship. It is evident from this study that the children of divorced parents are not likely to constitute a meaningful and adequate life-world without assistance. The life-styles of these children are often an example of the outcome of disharmonious educational dynamics. It represents inadequate personality development, which although it took place through the child's own initiative is mainly the result of educational misguiding by divorced parents. If children are to recover from the trauma of divorce, strategies for support must be designed and the needs of the children understood. Accountable support for these children implies that the children must be given meaningful help so that the situation of dysfunctional education in which they more often than not are caught up, may be rectified. These support systems may be divided into the following three phases: * Preventative support. * Support just before or at time of divorce. * Support after divorce and continuing support. In the light of the findings the following recommendations were made: * Educational Psychological Support Services (EPSS) must be established. * Educational-Psychological Support Service Units (EPSSU) must be established. * School social workers must be properly trained and appointed to offer guidance programmes in schools. Divorce workers Court Counsellors must be trained social and employed by the Department of Justice. * Attendance of the relevant counselling programmes must be made mandatory before the final divorce order is granted for couples with children.

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Despite widespread interest in patterns of parenting after separation in Australia, the gaps in our knowledge remain large and fundamental. Most studies, including those overseas, have taken a quantitative tack, measuring the frequency and overall amount of face-to-face contact between children and non-resident parents (mostly fathers). But obviously there is more to parent�child contact than just time. The nature and quality of the interaction are also important � perhaps even more so. Recently there has been a push towards recognising and describing both qualitative and quantitative differences in the many ways that parental sharing of time with children can occur after divorce. This thesis attempts to identify and explore some of these differences by comparing five different patterns of care: (i) 50/50 shared care, (ii) little or no contact, (iii) holiday-only contact, (iv) daytime-only contact, and (v) �standard� contact (thought to occur every-other-weekend and half of each school holidays). A representative snapshot of parent�child contact schedules after separation is presented to provide some of the detail of arrangements within this typology. Two (complementary) types of data are used: qualitative data from a series of focus groups with separated parents, and quantitative data from three large representative samples of separated/divorced parents in Australia. Joining the dots between the various pieces of data, there is much to suggest that family dynamics in tandem with demographic factors temper the form that parent�child contact takes, with different combinations of factors clearly linked to qualitatively different patterns of postseparation parenting. While separating parents need to be encouraged to think more laterally about what arrangements might work best for their children and themselves, the data presented suggest that some parents in Australia are already being very creative and there is much diversity of arrangements. The central argument running through this dissertation is that arrangements that allow children to experience fluid, meaningful time with each parent are critical for children�s and parents� wellbeing. The ideas and data presented here � especially some of the more creative timesharing schedules developed by parents � are likely to be a useful resource for separated parents, and the family law professionals they approach for assistance, to reflect on when developing or refining parenting arrangements after divorce.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept of Marriage, Family, and Human Development, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-39).