Example research essay topic: Does The Divorce Of Parents Harm Their Children - 1,618 words

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Does the Divorce of Parents Harm Their Children? Title of Article: Divorce Is Hard for Adult Children Too. Author of Article: Holly Hubbard Preston. Journal Name (volume, page numbers): Newsweek (v. 136, no. 10, 2000. p. 11).

Briefly state the main ideas of this article: In this article, Holly Preston strives to instil readers with the idea that divorce always negatively affects children, regardless of circumstances. Author also implies that children from families fractured by divorce are very likely to suffer from psychological inadequacy, by the time they grow up. List three important facts that the author uses to support the main idea: While trying to substantiate articles main ideas, author tell us about her experiences of dealing with children from divorced families and she also provides with the insight on her own psychological anxieties, related to Preston's parents having divorced from each other, after she had reached an adulthood. However, Divorce Is Hard for Adult Children Too does not contain any factual evidence, as to the validity of articles thesis statement. Show how this article supports its side of the issue: In her article, author relies on mainly the emotional means of providing its ideas with intellectual soundness. She begins by describing what she considers as psychological effects of divorce, within the context of two four-year-old girls interacting with each other, while playing in the sandbox.

Then, author moves on to relate the witnessed scene in the sandbox (one girl trying to take sand strainer from another and then breaking up in tears) to how she emotionally overreacts to occurrences hardly worthy of any attention (her husband spilling milk etc. ). According to Preston, this directly corresponds to the fact that she continues to remain mentally disturbed over the divorce of her own parents. Identify holes in its argument: Even though Preston's conclusion as to the negative affects of divorce on children sound plausible enough, the validity of her argument is being undermined by the fact that Preston clearly indulges into a fallacy of assumption. She failed to realize that, although there might be a dialectic link between four-year-old girls and her own mental anxiety, it does not necessarily mean that their parents divorce affects other people in exactly the same way. What is a good counterargument to the thesis of this article? The best argument against articles ideas would be pointing out to them as the mental product of Preston's tendency to assess objective reality through the lenses of emotional irrationality.

Many children actually benefit from their parents getting divorced, because it is much better to be growing up in family with only one parent, then in the family with two parents that are being solemnly preoccupied with fighting, while paying little attention to childs needs. Physically and mentally adequate kids might feel a certain emotional discomfort over the divorce of their parents, but it can never result in them becoming hysterical. What point could be added to its argument? Preston's article does not contain any practical suggestions as to what should be done to reduce the number of divorces.

She simply states that divorce is bad, but most people were well aware of it, even prior to reading Divorce Is Hard for Adult Children Too. Therefore, if I were the author, I would be trying to strengthen my argument by: a) inclusion of statistical data, in regards to the effects of divorce on children b) inclusion of suggestions on how government can intervene to change situation for better. What point could be added to its argument? Preston's article does relate to what we have learned in class, because it points out at divorce as having strong negative impact on children the overall validity of this statement can hardly be argued. What new information have you learned from this article? After having read Preston's article, I learned not to necessarily relate the apparent mental instability of some women to them dealing with the effects of PMS, but to also consider a possibility that such women were simply never able to overcome an emotional disturbance, due to divorce of their parents.

Bibliography: Amato, P. (2008). Parental Divorce, Marital Conflict and Childrens Behavior Problems: A Comparison of Adopted and Biological Children. Social Forces. 86 (3), 1139 - 61. Preston, H. (2000). Divorce is Hard for Adult Children Too. Newsweek. 136 (10), 11. (The actual article): (C) Newsweek, Inc.

All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution, or alteration without the express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission web It started out as a typical sandbox fight between 4 -year-olds. Two preschool girls battling over a red plastic sand strainer. Suddenly one of the little girls gave up. With her hands clenched at her side, she began to bawl.

Her pint-size opponent looked to me, a lunchtime volunteer mom, for help. "All this over a sand toy?" her eyes said. "What's really bothering you?" I asked, putting an arm around the sobbing bundle before me. "I want my daddy... I want to go to his house now... I want my mommy to come, " she said, tears and words pouring out in equal measure. I started to feel my own throat ache. I clutched her closer as I debated whether to let her see my own tears. Sarah (not her real name) is struggling to come to terms with her parents' failing marriage.

The fact that her dad recently moved out would be foreboding to any child, 4 or 40. I should know. Nearly three years ago my father moved out of our family home. Now my parents are divorced after 35 years of marriage. Their split was not a total surprise; they had been growing apart for years. Still, I had always held out hope, childish as it might have been, that somehow Mom and Dad would find a way back to one another.

The fact that they never will has been a hard reality to swallow, even as a seasoned, married 34 -year-old. Contrary to popular belief, divorce isn't any easier or less painful when you are an adult child. The only difference between Sarah and me is that I can try and sort through what has happened to my family on an intellectual as well as emotional level. Sarah is left holding a bag of emotions she's not quite sure what to do with. So she throws tantrums and fights with her friends.

I've been there. During the past three years I've lashed out at my own husband and kids over seemingly minor infractions, like an unwillingness to pick up clothes or toys. I have even cried over spilled milk. I often find myself at a loss to explain how empty my parents' breakup has left me. This is coming from someone who writes for a living.

I can only imagine the pent-up emotions a young child like Sarah harbors inside. The sad thing is that the two people I often want to turn to for comfort -- my mother and my father -- cannot be good listeners in this circumstance. My pain incites their frustration, guilt and anger over the situation. Somehow the conversation comes back to them and their suffering. Grandparents and other relatives, I have found, are not always objective listeners. And much as I'd like to pour my heart out to my little sister, I won't.

She needs a listener too. My husband tries to be a sounding board, but he has no clue what it is like to be the kid of divorced parents. He comes from an unusually functional family. He can't fathom the sorrow and betrayal I feel when looking at a portrait of my mom, my dad, my sister and I when we were still young and hopeful about our future together.

He can't understand the awkwardness of being invited to a party by a longtime family friend who has opted not to invite my mother but my father and his fiancee instead. Nor can he grasp the unwarranted shame I feel when someone asks me if my parents are still married. No child wants to see his or her parents unhappy. I know I didn't. For me, understanding the necessity of the divorce was never the problem; it was learning how to deal with the consequences of it. Even though good things do come out of divorce -- often-happier parents, fractured but more peaceful family gatherings -- the loss of that original family unit and the hope tied to it is often irreplaceable for a child.

I'm convinced that even after my parents' financial settlement is final, I'll never manage to fill the void that's been created. It's like mourning the death of someone I loved and now miss terribly. In its place I have a series of separate, compartmentalized relationships. My parents will be my parents forever, no matter what they think of one another or whom they might marry. After all, I didn't divorce them. With that in mind, I have no choice but to divide my time and emotions between the two.

I am hardly alone. More than a million kids go through this exercise each year. Yet, routine as divorce may be, to a child of any age it is a unique event of cataclysmic proportions. I don't know if there's any way to make divorce a less grueling process for a kid. I do know that a little understanding goes a long way. My parents came to see that what I was struggling with was not so much their living apart but what their living apart would mean for me.

Now, finally, we " re piecing together a new family picture that doesn't feel hopelessly fractured. Preston lives in St. Helena, Calif.

Research essay sample on Does The Divorce Of Parents Harm Their Children