New report on Sexting– CNN report on study
New report on Sexting– CNN report on study
The Economist magazine has a series of articles discussing the changes in marriage. Lots of interesting information.
Here is an online questionnaire to measure attachment. http://www.web-research-design.net/cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl
by Ashley-Tate Hollis, Rachel Smith, & Kristen Herdegen
Abstract
Millions of youth have divorced or separated parents, and many youth experience behavior problems or cope with this family transition in unhealthy ways. At the same time, evidence-based programs to help youth cope with their parents’ divorce are limited. Moreover, research with contemporary youth that was designed to inform such programming is further scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore emerging adults’ (N = 141) perceptions of the challenges, as well as their coping methods throughout their own parents’ divorce-related transitions. Themes surrounding feeling caught in the middle between parents and attempting to maintain contact with both parents emerged from the data as two of the most commonly coded categories. Participants also frequently reported struggles regarding parent’s new romantic relationships or the remarriage of their parents and feeling sad, depressed, or experiencing other negative emotions. The most frequently mentioned coping aid was friends, particularly someone with a similar experience dealing with parental divorce. These data provide insight into the types of topics and coping strategies that could form the basis for developing outreach efforts for helping youth who are coping with their parents’ divorce.
Research Questions
Methods
To address these questions, a purposive sampling method was used in which college students recruited individuals to participate in an online survey as part of a class project. The survey was created to explore emerging adults’ preferences for online divorce education content and design. Emerging adults (18-25 year olds) were eligible to participate if their parents were divorced, they had online access, and they read English. The survey included demographic questions (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity), as well as age at the time of their parents’ divorce and how they accessed the Internet (e.g., cell phone or desktop).
Sample Characteristics
Table 1. Individual Characteristics of Participants as a Percentage by Sex
Ethnicity Male (N = 24) Female (N = 117)
Age When Parents Divorced
Perceptions of Parents’ Divorce Conflict
Parent Education
Results
The following categories emerged from the data and represent the most common struggles that youth faced through their parents’ divorce and the transition period that followed.
Examples of Adolescent Struggles
Coping Strateties
The following categories emerged from the data and represent the most common coping strategies that adolescents utilized during their parents’ divorce.
Examples of Coping Strategies
Implications for Practice and Further Research
Our results revealed that emerging adults report a high likelihood to seek information from parents, siblings, and friends, and therefore less formal sources of information. As such, we argue that program developers should foster innovative ways to reach and engage youth with evidence-based divorce education content. For example, education via social media is one strategy for reaching youth as it is less formal than a workshop or support group, and it would provide opportunities for youth to give and receive information from friends, family, or other trusted sources they already describe as utilizing to cope. Future research should include further analysis of challenges and coping at various ages or stages of their parents divorce or separation. Moreover, longitudinal designs would allow for a better understanding of the risk and resilience factors associated with divorce challenges and coping strategies.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Drs. Robert Hughes and Jill Bowers for their guidance and leadership on this research project.
Citation: Hollis, A-T., Smith, R., & Herdegen, K. (April, 2015). How adolescents cope with divorce. Poster presented at the the annual University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Undergraduate Research Conference, Urbana, IL. http://publish.illinois.edu/hdfs120-families/2015/04/29/how-adolescents-deal-with-divorce-ashley-tate-hollis-rachel-smith-kristen-herdegen/
Very interesting discussion of how Black women deal with racism and sexism.
First speaker is Kumea Shorter-Goodwin.
On Oct 3, the class will debate the issue of whether or not to cohabitate. Here are some resources to inform this discussion.
Twenty-something Marriage— see the section on the Why the Great Crossover matters.
The Atlantic
Huffington Post
This article discusses the causes of Black single-parenthood.