1 / 18

Children of Divorced Parents

Children of Divorced Parents. Grace Haglund Ball State University CPSY 644 Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Mission Statements. PERSONAL. MUNCIE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS.

verna
Download Presentation

Children of Divorced Parents

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Children of Divorced Parents Grace Haglund Ball State University CPSY 644 Tuesday, March 26, 2013

  2. Mission Statements PERSONAL MUNCIE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS I will strive to improve the quality of life for every student I come into contact with, while working collaboratively with faculty, parents, and the school corporation …to provide a quality educational environment that allows every student to maximize his or her potential and upon graduation, possess the basic skills necessary to be a positive, productive, contributing member of society

  3. Beliefs and Philosophy • We agree that students with divorced parents are more likely to decline in academics, following the divorce • We agree that students with divorced parents are more likely to develop behavioral or emotional issues • Our overall goal is for this program to improve the students’ academics and relationships by improving their coping skills and self-esteem.

  4. RATIONALE • Students’ sense of worth is connected with effective learning • Low academic achievement is correlated to low levels of self-esteem, low social interactions with peers (Kaniuka, 2010). • Students’ ability to cope effectively impacts them mentally, emotionally, and socially (Frydenberg, Lewis, Bugalski, Cotta, McCarthy, Luscombe-Smith, & Poole, 2004). • By improving self-esteem and coping skills, academic and behavior improvement can occur

  5. Current Research: Effects on Children • Children aged 6–7 living with both parents generally had better emotional well-being than similar aged children living with one parent (Baxter, Weston, & Qu,2011). • The experience of parental divorce raises rates of adolescent delinquency (Burt, Barnes, McGue, & Iacono, 2008). • Students who are younger when their parents divorce have higher rates of internalizing and externalizing problems; students who are older when divorce occurs have lower grades (Lansford, Malone, Castellino, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2006).

  6. Current Research: Effects on Children • Father-child relationships suffer more than mother-child relationships after divorce. Depending on the continued level of parent conflict post-divorce, social support and relationship anxiety levels vary (Riggio, 2004). • Separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations are linked with children’s behavioral/emotional problems (Stadelmann, Perren, Groeben, & von Klitzing, 2010).

  7. Current Research: Possible Interventions • Programs that teach students coping responses, such as optimism and problem-solving skills were shown to be effective in helping both self-esteem and every day stressors. These programs also need to dismiss ineffective coping skills. (Frydenberg, et. al, 2004). • Parenting programs which aimed to reduce externalizing/ internalizing problems through improvement in mother– child relationships through improving methods of discipline and communication were shown effective (Tein, Sandler, MacKinnon, & Wolchik, 2004).

  8. Current Research: Possible Interventions- New Beginnings Program (NBP) • Divorce increases risk for mental health, physical health, and social adaptation problems. A way to prevent these issues is to educate the parents on how to have healthy relationships with their ex and their children and appropriate discipline methods. (Wolchik, Schenck, & Sandler, 2009). • After parents completed this program, their children had higher GPAs over the span of 6 years. Children’s ability to adjust to change and accept/cope with difficult situations improved after their parents completed NBP (Zhou, Sandler, Millsap, Wolchik, & Dawson-McClure, 2008) .

  9. ASCA National Standards • Personal/Social Development • Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others. • PS: A1 Acquire Self-knowledge • PS: A1.5- Identify and express feelings • PS: A1.12- Identify and recognize changing family roles

  10. ASCA National Standards • Personal/Social Development • Standard B: Students will make decisions, set goals and take necessary action to achieve goals • PS: B1 Self-knowledge Application • PS: B1. 4- Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems

  11. Group Information • Students whose parents have divorced/separated (parent referral) • 8-10 students • Elementary school setting • Grades 3-5 • All races/ethnicities, genders • Five, 45 minute weekly sessions, the final session will be 60 minutes • Held after school • Individual counseling available as well

  12. Overview of Sessions • Session One • What does having divorced parents mean to you? • Have students share their feelings, thoughts, reactions to having divorced parents • Have students share how they have grown or changed since the divorce • Session Two • What are coping skills? • Define and give examples of coping skills • Have students identify skills they think they already possess • Session Three • What does your family look like now? • Have students identify ways that their families have changed since the divorce • Have students write a letter to each family member sharing how they view them before and after the divorce • Session Four • What is self-esteem? • Have students write out what they think it means to have good self-esteem • Have students write out ways they think they may not have self-esteem and how it can change • Session Five (60 min) • Put it all together! • Have students reflect on what they have learned about themselves, coping skills, and self-esteem over the past four weeks • Share resources that are available to them, discuss further individual counseling

  13. Data Collected • Pre/post tests for students • Administered at beginning of first session and beginning of the last session • 1. How do you deal with your feelings about the divorce? • 2. Who do you talk to about these feelings? • 3. When you get upset, sad, or angry about the divorce what do you do? • 4. What are three things you are good at doing? • 5. When you make a mistake, how do you deal with it? • 6. When do you feel the happiest about yourself?

  14. Data Collected-Parents/Teachers • Pre/post tests for parents/teachers • Administered before the first session and before the last session • 1. How do you cope with the divorce? (parent only) • 2. How often does your student see their other parent? (parent only) • 3. Do you talk with your student about how he/she is feeling? If so, how often? • 4. How does your student act at home/school? • 5. How has your student changed since the divorce? (pre-intervention) • 5. How has your student changed since the weekly sessions? (post-intervention)

  15. Action Plan

  16. References • Baxter, J., Weston, R., & Qu, L. (2011). Family structure, co-parental relationship quality, post-separation paternal involvement and children's emotional wellbeing. Journal Of Family Studies, 17(2), 86-109. • Burt, S., Barnes, A. R., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2008). Parental divorce and adolescent delinquency: Ruling out the impact of common genes. Developmental Psychology, 44(6), 1668-1677. • Frydenberg, E., Lewis, R., Bugalski, K., Cotta, A., McCarthy, C., Luscombe-Smith, N., & Poole, C. (2004). Prevention is better than cure: Coping skills training for adolescents at school. Educational Psychology In Practice, 20(2), 117-134. • Kaniuka, T. S. (2010). Reading achievement, attitude toward reading, and reading self-esteem of historically low achieving students. Journal Of Instructional Psychology, 37(2), 184-188.

  17. References • Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Castellino, D. R., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2006). Trajectories of internalizing, externalizing, and grades for children who have and have not experienced their parents' divorce or separation. Journal Of Family Psychology, 20(2), 292-301. • Riggio, H. R. (2004). Parental marital conflict and divorce, parent-child relationships, social support, and relationship anxiety in young adulthood. Personal Relationships, 11(1), 99-114. • Stadelmann, S., Perren, S., Groeben, M., & von Klitzing, K. (2010). Parental separation and children's behavioral/emotional problems: The impact of parental representations and family conflict. Family Process, 49(1), 92-108.

  18. References • Tein, J., Sandler, I. N., MacKinnon, D. P., & Wolchik, S. A. (2004). How did it work? Who did it work for? Mediation in the context of a moderated prevention effect for children of divorce. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 72(4), 617-624. • Wolchik, S. A., Schenck, C. E., & Sandler, I. N. (2009). Promoting resilience in youth from divorced families: Lessons learned from experimental trials of the new beginnings program. Journal Of Personality, 77(6), 1833-1868. • Zhou, Q., Sandler, I. N., Millsap, R. E., Wolchik, S. A., & Dawson-McClure, S. R. (2008). Mother-child relationship quality and effective discipline as mediators of the 6-year effects of the New Beginnings Program for children from divorced families. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 76(4), 579-594.

More Related