Predicting Marital Separation, Article Critique Example

Do parent–child relationships matter?

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine whether family relationships contribute in marital separation and divorce. The various relations of interest included couple relationship, the mother–adolescent closeness and negativity, and the father–adolescent closeness and negativity. Of considerable interest were the fathers, where there was the assessment of both biological and stepfather families. The study sought to determine if there is an association between parent–youth relationships and marital separation, and if the association exists, is it possible that the relationship between family processes and marital separation would differ in other life stages in future?

To access family demographic and income, a population of 8,984 youths aged between of 12 and 16 examined. Data derived from the 1997 first 4 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The data also included various measures of family structures and family process (Holly& Rebekah, 2012).The youths constituted of an oversampling minority and the low-income youths. The immediate parent or caretaker of each youth participated in an interview. The interview sought to find out about family demographics, monthly, and estimated annual and income.

In the analysis, the population of 8,984 youths narrowed down to a sample of 1649 youths. These youths subjected to the fourth wave process of data collection. During this period, it occurred that over the four-wave process, some adolescents could only the years up to middle adolescence. Thereafter, an increased numbers of adolescents moved out of their households. This altered the appropriateness of the purpose of the 4-wave procedure that sought to assess parents’ leaving the household.

For clearer results, at wave 1, there were restrictions where analytic sample only included youth residing with two married biological parents. The participants were also to remain at the retained residence with their biological parents during the study period. Further eliminations included elimination of younger siblings, elimination of those youths whose parents unfortunately died during the study period, and the youth whose parents moved out due to medical problems or for cases of employment. A complementary log–log analysis employed to find out the existing associations lying between the parent-child relationships and marital separations, with the use of a duration or hazard model (Holly& Rebekah, 2012).

The study variables summarized as below:

Family process variables- comprised of those parents who resided in their household at the time of data collection, it included:

1) Youth closeness with each parent

2) Negative parenting of each parent

3) Positive marital behavior of each parent. Covariates- included the variables with closeness in relationships, i.e.

1) Child relationships and divorce or marital separation

2) Time invariant

3) Adolescent and parent reports as father status, adolescent ethnicity, marital duration

4) Gender, and age; mother and father age as well as mother age

5) Youth closeness with each parent

6) Negative parenting of each parent, and

7) The positive marital behavior

The research findings showed substantial evidence that the mentioned relationships partially contribute to marital problems and divorce. The evident was outsourced from a seven-year marriage; a time when half of reported divorces and separations occur (Holly& Rebekah, 2012). At this time, children are always entering the transition period of adolescence. At the same time, parents often face challenges of midlife. The study showed that fathers who are not close to their adolescent children are most likely to bring in non-substantial conflicts and leave the household. There were however non- delineations for associations between mother– child relations and marital dissolutions.

Review

The authors raise a very essential discussion question since marital separation and divorce has not only affected the US, but the entire world. Families barely finish 10 years before one of the marriage partners seeks divorce or separation. Divorce and separation of a family not only affects the nuclear family, but the entire community. I feel obligated that researchers have decided to go into the field to find out the underlying reason. From the superficial overview, one may think that only individual or rather interpersonal factors are the only causes of conflicts leading to divorce or separation, but there is more to that. According to Holly and Rebekah, individual traits like early age at marriage, low human and financial capital, being a victim of a previous marriages and barrenness are just but primary causes of divorce and marital separation. The conflict between the mother and father and lack of commitment and infidelity leads to separation and divorce. However, the parent–child relationships also matter a lot.

The author insists that decisions on separation or divorce of married couples relate to complex family relationships. It involves the whole family; the relationship between the father and mother, and their relationship with the children. The study implied that in relation to the parent– child relationships, there is a decreased probability of marital separation whenever there is a higher level of father–youth closeness (Holly& Rebekah, 2012). Whenever there is a closer father-child relationship, there is a lesser probability of the father moving out of the household in the subsequent year. The study results emphasize on the fathers to be identity models. They ought to have a salient and develop a strong connection to their fatherhood role. Fathers should develop engaged and warm relations with their children and strive to retain stability in their marriage. They should focus on having a co residence with their spouse rather than opt for separation or divorce.

While the research would have faced several challenges from participant, it was still a success. An approximate of 30% of youths involved in the study was unwilling to expose the family issues in their families. Issues to do with family are somehow confidentially, thus the study bound to erroneous mistakes during data collection. Again, there was the sense of biasness, where marital separation considered as the issue of the father leaving the marital household. It was a theoretical perspective as the majority of marital dissolutions in the United States result due to  fathers leaving the household as mothers hold on to retain primary custody of the children (Holly& Rebekah, 2012).

My impression of this study is, however, a positive one. The authors’ results and discussions presented in a well-organized fashion. The literature review also provides a full understanding of the topic. It is a clear, well-organized article. It precisely gives a positive impression of the raising crucial concern of the marital separation issue, which has largely affected the US. It has come into my understanding that marital separations relate to complex family relationships. Greater mother–adolescent closeness projects a greater likelihood of marital separation. On the other hand, greater father– child closeness predicted a lower likelihood of marital separation (Holly& Rebekah, 2012). I believe the study will work towards improving the current situation in the United States, and in the entire world.