|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
The Legacy of Lost Families: Divorce and the Next Generation
| Article
# : |
14769 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1988 |
5,026 Words |
| Author
: |
John Guidubaldi
John Guidubaldi is director of the Early Childhood School
Psychology Program at Kent State University, director of the
National Impact of Divorce on Children Study, and past
president of the National Association of School Psychologists.
He is coauthor of the Battle Developmental Inventory Test,
past editor of the Highlights Corporation Newsletter of
Parenting, past president of Portage Family Counseling and
Mental Health Center, past director of Hudson Psychological
Associates, and school psychologist for the Western Reserve
Academy private secondary school, Hudson, Ohio. |
Belatedly, we are awakening. Even the most complacent, fearless advocates of role change are now questioning the wisdom of modified family life-styles and consequent child-rearing compromises made during the baby-boom generation. What began innocently in the tumultuous decade of the sixties as part of the movement to increase equality between the sexes now is exposed as a multifaceted mistake that has critically eroded healthy socialization of our nation's children. Although equal opportunity is an unequivocally appropriate societal objective, the sometimes overly zealous pursuit of its elusive benefits often leads to destructive oversimplifications. For example, this concept, applied to marriage, has sometimes given less devoted men license to relinquish the "good provider" role and perhaps to abandon family responsibilities altogether. Conversely, some women have interpreted equality to mean equal privilege without equal responsibility. Moreover, the more shortsighted equal-opportunity advocates have often failed to consider any of the several advantages of the traditional wife, homemaker, and mother roles, implying noxious or restrictive attributes to these identities. Most troublesome of all, this movement has frequently resulted in a devaluing of motherhood as being less fulfilling than even menial labor outside the home.
Similar to other naïve attempts to force an egalitarian template on complex relationships, the movement to promote greater degrees of freedom and "self-actualization" within marriages failed to foresee the powerful, potentially negative side effects of an ostensibly noble mission. Foremost among these has been the rapidly escalating rate of divorce and subsequent pervasive deterioration of children's life-styles that, for many children, includes decreased financial security, diminished respect for authority, increased susceptibility to peer pressures, confusion about values, and lower self-confidence. The noble banner of "self-actualization" raised by the baby-boomers now appears ragged in retrospect as the last members of their cohort begin to assume the weighty responsibilities of parenthood.
The leading edge of that massive cohort has produced the children who are now entering adulthood. How many have experienced parental divorce, and how have they been affected by their parents' reluctance to adhere to a "till death do you part" definition of marriage?
Incidence of Divorce
The divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world, almost double that of the second ranked country,
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
