Introduction to the Portfolio

 

 

Introduction to Portfolio

This semester I pondered with many ideas of what to write about for this semester in English 1B. I appreciate as a student that I was allowed to explore any topic and write about it. With that said, I started out wanting to write about the mythology of Atlantis. I strayed way off that topic and decided to write about something that was more meaningful to me: divorce. It is interesting me because I come from a divorced family and was curious how divorce affected children in the process. In my portfolio, you will see information about, well, divorce. The divorce rate in America averages about 50% of marriages will come to an end. Getting remarried is an option that many people will considered. However, about 65% of people will get divorced in their second marriage. Unfortunately divorce doesn’t just affect the adults, it affects the children greatly. I was curious as to how a failed marriage affects a child and if it could possibly hinder them in their adult years. Through my research, I was able to gather information about the effects such as: depression, anxiety, trouble in school, and trouble connecting with peers. I explored in what ways a child could be helped through a divorce and three beneficial, but different therapy strategies came about: Play Therapy, group therapy, and individual therapy.

Through my research, I was able to learn a lot about children and the impact divorce has on them mainly depending on the age that they are during the time of their parents divorce.  That is how the three different types of therapy play a role into this. Each therapy is designed specifically for different age groups. Younger children show better results with Play Therapy; middle aged children work better in group therapy; adolescents work better with individual therapy. This information I learned, I found insightful because it could help a parent be more aware of the different types counseling and what would be suited best for their child depending on their age. I learned that doing research is actually a lot of work, but it can be fun because I’m learning about something that is important to me. It should be important to our society, so that we can provide children with a solution. As cliche as it sounds: the children are the youth of our nation. As a writer, I learned there is always room for improvement for writing skills. Each semester, I’m constantly learning new writing techniques like synthesising. This was a little difficult for me, but I’m fully capable of incorporating that in my future writing assignments.

The longest paper that I have ever written was The Proposal, but I would consider my Literature Review Assignment my best work. With scholarly sources I’m able to provide the information that supports how divorce can cause severe negative effects, “such as addictive, impulsive or hyperactive conducts or antisocial behaviors” (Malone et al). This can definitely add to physiological effects on a child and could impact them in their adult years with their social skills.  However,  “it is possible that that the children whose parents divorced would experience the same negative outcomes, or more problems had their parents remained married” (Mohi). Here, I’m able to present an opposing argument from another scholarly source to shine a more positive light on the outcome divorce has on a child. This was not the main focus of my paper, but added more information to help the reader better understand my topic.

My main goal for my final project was to create a website that provided information about different types of therapies for age groups. It was targeted mainly for children, but I added a section for the parents to get a better understanding of how to be helpful during the process. I wanted to create something that allowed easy access to children and also wanted to remind them that they are not alone. My website didn’t turn out as well as I wanted it to, but with the technological challenges I have, I did the best I could. I wish I would have asked a friend who was more savvy with web design to help me incorporate a more effective and advanced website.

Proposal: Rough Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-cZUG7GZlHTLNIjpgMTIbEQMkoccGwfHFjMmOsGACCA/edit?usp=sharing

Proposal: Final Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Nfb6jTitaptc6hvKrpodd3bVvMG66uSU1HmYPWbbQU/edit?usp=sharing

Project

http://nicoletobiassen8.wixsite.com/mysite

Lit Review: Final Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQYWnws7L7JR2iI0-kMNNajjo1yH48gKqTv4V8wP3c0/edit

Lit Review: Rough Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oRTrlca02F6g3QFPxZiaLM8bDTS2JjdH_8ChAv_fnyE/edit#

Mega Blog

This source on boundless.com, explains the side effects divorce has on children. It talks about how that the effects do depend on the age of the child, which makes complete sense. I’ll break it down for this part: Infants and Preschool- children are not aware of what is fully going, but they do suffer. They show signs of loss of appetite; they may act out in more childish behavior, and are also known to wet the bed more frequently.School age children and adolescent are affected the most according to this source. At this age they are able to comprehend more than a toddler, but are young enough to be confused and not cope with how they are feeling. Teens also have the same symptoms. They also experience: anger, depression, anxiety, remorse, drug abuse, and sexual promiscuity.

Ces.ncsu.edu supports the previous article with the age of a child depends on how they react. Children who are younger are more at risk for short term problems because they are young and cannot fully comprehend the whole situation. Where older children develop long term problems. I’m interested in how the gender roles play a different part into this equation. Boys and girls do process differently which is interesting to me. This source said boys are more at risk to have problems because mothers are granted full custody. It is harder for a boy to adjust to not having a male role model around. Isn’t it hard for a girl to not have her father around too? This statement from my research has caught my attention because I don’t believe this to be true, but I’m sure more research will provide me with some answers.

Some other factors do connect with this topic. Socioeconomic status can effect a child because their financial needs are not met; the more the child is involved with the divorce-being put in the middle by the parent-the more of  resentment is built up from the child directed towards the parent for getting them involved, and not being the parent who once protected them. This source also stated that a key factor to the outcome of the divorce does depend on the relationship each parent has with the child. If the relationship is healthy and nurturing, the risk for negative behavior is less than if the the relationship with the parent is toxic and unstable before the divorce process.

Some long term effects are:

“Research suggests that problematic parent-child relations associated with divorce persist throughout the life course.” (Amato and Booth,1996).

“...the long-term consequences of parental divorce for adult attainment and quality of life may prove to be more serious than the short-term emotional and social problems in children.” (Amato & Keith, 1991).

“…children from disrupted families are significantly more likely to express discontent with their lives as measured by an index of life satisfaction.” (Furstenberg & Teitler, 1994).

These quotes are taken from this article because I found these educating and supporting my idea of a topic. Does divorce effect a child in their adult years? According to these legitimate quotes, the answer is yes. But why does this happen? Can they get past it? This article explains something called “sleepers effect.” Basically, a child can seem like they recover quickly after a divorce, but in the long run they actually don’t. It is a delayed reaction to the traumatic event that occurred in their earlier years. Why does it happen years down the road? I will have to research more on that question. After a ten year follow up, a large amount of adult children of divorce experienced negative beliefs about their parents divorce. They feel let down and have vivid memories of the dramatic experience that leaves a bitter taste in their mouth.

Mind Map

https://app.wisemapping.com/c/maps/456471/public

Play Therapy

When two parent’s are getting divorced, it’s an deep emotional experience for everyone in the family. Between family courts, child support, and schedules, it can become overwhelming. The ones who are affected the most are the children, often stuck in the middle of a real life game of ping pong. When I spoke with Dani, she helped me narrow my research down to psychological benefits of children getting therapy. Does seeking emotional treatment help with children to process the painful situation? Through my research I found an interesting article on Divorce360 that explains a certain type of therapy called play therapy. It is exactly what is sounds like-a child is to play while therapist observe them.

Since divorce a grieving process, children often have difficulty processing emotions. They  develop emotional issues such as: stress, anxiety, depression, abandonment, anger, confusion, and the list could go on. According a few sources, it is important for a child to go to therapy to learn healthy coping mechanisms for them to further grow into their adult years. If a child is unable to express certain feelings-mainly negative- it could handicap their social skills in adulthood. The one type of therapy I found intriguing was the play therapy. This type of therapy is mainly for children under the age of 12. Deborah Homier, who runs Tender Hearts Child Therapy Center, describes in the article that children have a hard time communicating their feelings. When they play with toys, they are expressing themselves without realizing it. Therapist, Jack Dymond, explains when a child is playing, they are projecting their emotions verbally when the are engaged in an activity they enjoy. A therapist can easily observe what is going through a child’s mind by how they interact with certain toys. Then, the therapist will join in and interact with the child and play. Through this psycotherapy process, they are able to communicate in a different way and approach the issue. Usually, the problem will be solved through this act of playing when a therapist is present.

I also found it interesting that some therapist will use art as a form to help the children. They ask the child to draw a picture of their families. Depending on the type of picture they draw, they can interpret what the child is trying to communicate. For example, if a child leaves a family member out of the drawing, it is a indicator that the child is having difficulty with that family member. It is important for therapist to do this because they want to find the deep rooted issues to help mend the relationship. However, this drawing therapy is not used as much in children of divorce sessions.

I would like to continue my research on this topic. What is the percentage of children who benefited from this type of therapy? What other therapy is there and what age group benefits best? What area of the brain is affected? I find these all interesting questions that connect with my topic.

 

http://www.divorce360.com

 

Tentative Topic

My parents divorced when I was 7 years old. I was young and didn’t really comprehend that mom and dad didn’t love each other anymore. Of course it was a sad and intense chapter in my families lives, but it was for the best in the long run. Through all the chaos, I started to develop unhealthy defense mechanisms at an early age to protect myself, and to keep people at a distance. I have many friends who have been through similar situations and have similar developmental skills. This brings me to my first question: do children of divorced parents have difficulty forming romantic relationships and if so, why?

The divorce rate in America is the highest-ranking country in the world. About 50% of marriage will end up in divorce and the numbers continue to increase. 67% of second marriages will end in divorce. With all these divorces, there are children who are emotionally involved and many times unable to identify and cope with certain feelings. It is a no brainer when a child witnesses their parents going through a divorce that they are going to view romantic relationships through a negative lens. These negative effects can carry out through adulthood. During my research, I found that the word “trust” was a huge reason why many people had problems. The main foundation for a relationship is trust. For the adult child of a divorced parent, trust has already had a damaging impact on them because that trust was broken a long time ago for them from their parents.

University of Denver researched a similar topic and published their research in “Journal of Family Psychology” in 2008 by Markhamd, Rhoades, and Stanley found that grown women were more affected by divorce than men. In their study they found that women had lower amount to commit in a relationships. This leads me to my next question: if women are more affected by divorce, why? How are men and women affected differently when they went through similar situations? I don’t necessarily agree with this source. I would also like to research if some children were not affected by their parents divorce. One source has said that negative affects of divorce are dramatized and not as tragic as many researchers have said. Are these feelings of adult children exaggerated? I will continue to do my research.

http://www.mediate.com/articles/psych.cfm