PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES
THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE FAMILY HAS ON THE ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE IN CHILDREN AGED 7-15
Lorena Çadri
Msc., Lecturer at University College Wisdom
Abstract
Albanian society is adapting consistently to the concept of globalization and modernity in many respects. Adaptation to the modern norms that the global society exercises on the small traditional societies, but also the changes that the Albanian society has undergone over the years are quite visible. The family is one of the social institutions that seems to have not been able to escape globalization or modernism by transforming and going beyond the framework of the traditional Albanian family. For Albanian society and its mentality, the family has been considered sacred for centuries and the word 'divorce' was considered taboo. However things have changed recently and every change comes at a cost. It seems that for this development of the modern family, the cost in this case falls directly on the children of the family facing divorce. Changes in the family structure affect every member of the family, but children have the most difficult weight to cope with these changes, as divorce changes many things in their lives. Their emotional and psychological state becomes more fragile and the ways they react to parental divorce differs from the character of each child. One of the changes that happen in the lives of these children is related to their academic performance. This study tends to reveal the impact that divorce and the change of the family structure has on academic performance in children aged 7-15.
Keywords: divorce, family, modern society, globalism, academic performance
1. Introduction
Albanian society for centuries has been a traditional society with strong values and beliefs, where morality prevailed over written rules and the social institution of the family was above any other institution. For years, Albanian society has been a society with patriarchal domination, where the husband was the main pillar of the family and everything was decided by him. Today the mindset has changed, but it must still be said that the man is considered the main pillar of the family and the role of the woman has been elevated compared to her role in the family years ago. Although history has shown that in Albanian families the concept of matriarchy has worked very little and did not stand the test of time, today we can talk about a society where the concepts of matriarchy and patriarchy have faded from the concept of the modern family. But how did the traditional Albanian family change into a modern family?
When we talk about the traditional Albanian family we have in mind the sanctity that marriage and the creation of the family represent from the legal and sexual union of two adult individuals and as the fruit of a healthy family the birth of children and the continuation of the life cycle in harmony. In Albania, the role that each individual has in the family is well defined, dividing the roles mostly on the basis of sexual identity. The husband in the family has the duty to provide for his family, while on the other hand the wife is always seen as an educator for the children and the well-being of the house. Thus, based on this division of roles and tasks in the family, the concept of the traditional Albanian family has functioned for years. In a traditional Albanian family the word 'divorce' was a taboo. The Albanian mentality morally punished persons who for one reason or another sought divorce, as these persons were violating the sanctity of the family. They were morally excluded from society and faced a range of prejudices,
even though it was their right to live life as married or divorced.
The development and progress that society all over the world made in the field of technology, social development, quickly changed the way of life, unifying societies under the guise of globalization. This change that occurred in large modern societies had its impact on less developed and smaller societies such as Albania. Albania was affected by the social changes that took place in global societies and this change also occurred in the family structure. What was once considered taboo has now become a normal social phenomenon for a modern society. Today there is an increase in the number of divorces and the reasons are various. The freedom of the individual is often abused when it comes to divorce, and the consequences that this freedom has caused are many and varied. The reasons for a divorce in Albania range from domestic violence to the most commonly used term in court nowadays, 'betrayal' and 'exhausted or termination of feelings' by the couple. Therefore, this way we see the beginning of the breakdown of a couple's relationship but also the breakdown of family relationships and more broadly the destruction of the family shelter of children. The consequences of divorce disrupt the balance of life of the members of the established family, and undoubtedly the greatest burden of divorce is on the children. Changes in family structure cause children to change their way of life, changes in their thinking, changes in their psychology and emotions, changes in their character, changes in their academic performance. All of these changes have negative or positive consequences for children, and this study focused on the effects of divorce and the family structure change on children aged 7-15 in terms of their academic performance. Different age groups experience the situation of separation of parents in different
ways. The target group to conduct this study are children of the age of 7-15 years, as the age group in which the structural changes appear to influence the their daily life and one of these areas is their learning and academic performance in school.
2. Methodology
For the realization of this study, a combination of the quantitative method with the qualitative one has been used. A questionnaire was used on 50 children aged 7-15 who were facing the divorce of their parents. There were also 15 interviews with the teachers of these children to find out more about their academic achievement during the divorce period and onwards, to better understand the consequences of the change that the divorce brings. This study has its limitations regarding the number of divorced children as the identification of these children requires a lot of time and the number of interviews conducted with teachers is consequently small as it is directly related to the target group of respondents.
3. Literature review
The negative effects that divorce has on children range from disruption of their emotional balance, poor academic performance, and future difficulties in establishing a consolidated bond to starting a family.
Children who experience parental divorce cause emotional stress, as children lose the security and stability that they once had and as a result lose their focus and interest in the things that used to be part of their daily lives. The distraction they have in these situations is often reflected in the decrease in interest in learning in school and this is also reflected in the poor grades
As for the progress and results in lessons, most of the children responded that the divorce of the parents had significantly affected their learning results by low-
that children receive, thus reducing academic performance. In William H. Jeynes study "The Effects of Several of the Most Common Family Structures on the Academic Achievement of Eighth Grade students" shows that children of divorced parents are more likely to be lagging behind. This can have a negative effect on the child's self-esteem and maybe looked down upon by educational institutions in the future. Also children of divorced parents are more likely to have lower grade point averages (GPAs) and are asked to repeat a year of school (Jeynes 2000). In the midst of the chaos and sudden changes that occur in their lives, children of this age group find it difficult to adapt to these changes and even less to continue their lives the same as before divorce. Divorce affects their mind, their perceptions and their feelings, they feel lost, desperate from the whole situation and of course not having an emotional stability they lose self-esteem, lowering the claims for a high academic performance.(Jeynes 2001).
Obviously, from studies conducted by other researchers, divorce as a phenomenon of modern society in which we are living, brings to children long-term negative effects, effects that impact many aspects of life and well-being of children. (K.H.Tillman, 2007).
4. The impact of divorce on children aged 7-15 years
From the results of the questionnaires that were developed in children aged 7-15 regarding the question of whether they felt less motivated to learn, most of the answers were yes, that they felt less motivated to learn because they were not focused on lessons. From these results it was noticed that boys were less motivated to
ering their grades and their academic performance. According to them, this comes as a result of the loss of interest they have towards the lessons and the emotional state charged.
learn compared to girls
Academic performance
0
Lower grades Same grades
Regarding the family structure, it was observed that children who have divorced parents experience great emotional changes as well changes regarding the relationships they have with each of the parents. To the question whether you think divorce has affected your relationship with your parents, all the children surveyed answered yes. They argued this fact with the constant absence of one of the parents all the time at home, which leads to a change in the child-parent relationship.
From the interview with the teachers, most of them stated that these children face emotional stress, changes in their mental state and become more closed to themselves. Teachers also said that these children do not want to be active participants in learning; they are often unfocused and obviously have a loss of interest not only in learning but also in fun activities outside of learning.
For teachers one of the most troubling problems was that children with divorced parents have lower learning outcomes in most cases, they even do not accept help or talk about their problems. This had a negative impact on them, as they do not express their feelings and carry a lot of emotional weight, even though they are still small children and it affects their character formation in the future. These children also have fewer chances to establish good relationships and this reduces the chances of creating societies with their peers.
Another concern of teachers was that often in meetings with parents, in most cases only one of the parents, mainly the one who has custody of the child is interested and comes more often to meetings about the progress of children and their child performance in school. This also shows the low interest of the other parent.
So the negative effects of divorce on children aged 7-15 years are clearly reflected not only in their emotional, psychological, health status but also in their performance and learning outcomes.
5. Conclusions
From the findings of the study and literature review the negative effects of divorce on children aged 715 years are various. Children suffer parental divorce, family breakdowns, difficulties in adapting to the new family structure, and changing their daily routine.
Regarding their academic performance from the study data it was noted that;
Children who have divorced parents have a loss of interest and do not focus on learning. This leads to lower results and their performance in lessons. Also, children who do not have a great desire to learn have problems with attending school. Children feel vulnerable, unable to resolve this situation.
Emotionally, as accepted by the surveyed children but also by the interviewed teachers, the children become more distant and close to themselves. They distance themselves from their peers; they may be completely withdrawn from social life. They are more emotional, they often display outbursts of anger.
It is not easy for children to go through the process of parental divorce because their whole life changes by taking a different course. Adjustments are often more difficult, and sometimes the adjustment process takes longer for others depending on the character of the child and how the divorce process went on the part of the parents regarding the custody of the child.
To minimize the shock and long-term consequences, parents, their peers, teachers, should stay close to the child at all times to facilitate and support him in this difficult period. On the other hand, the foundations of marriage and family should be strengthened, so that divorce is avoided when possible. There must be a lot of awareness activities to strengthen the family relationship to establish the nucleus that is the family, creating warm family shelters, healthy relationships, to raise calm, happy and healthy children.
References
1. Amato P.R., and Booth A.. 1997. A generation at risk: Growing up in an era of family upheaval. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2. Chetty R., Hendren N., Kline P., and Saez E. 2014 The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States (2014) Harvard University
3. Demuth S., and Brown S.L.. 2004. Family structure, family processes, and adolescent delinquency: The significance of parental absence versus parental gender. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 41(1): 58-81
4. Fagan P.F., and Churchill A. The effects of divorce on children. Marri Research. January 11, 2012.
5. Jeynes W.H.2000. The effects of several of the most common family structures on the academic achievement of eighth graders. Marriage and Family Review 30: 88. [Google Scholar]
6. 5.Jeynes W.H.2001. The effects of recent parental divorce on their children's sexual attitudes and behavior. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage 35: 125
7. Kathryn Harker Tillman, "Family Structure Pathways and Academic Disadvantage among Adolescents in Stepfamilies," Sociological Inquiry 77, no. 3 (2007): 408
8. M.D.R. Evans, Jonathan Kelley, and Richard A. Wanner, "Consequences of Divorce for Childhood Education: Australia, Canada, and the USA, 19401990," Comparative Sociology 8, no. 1 (2009): 129