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Transcript of Research Proposal (final)
Running Head: BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 1
Effects of Divorced Fathers on Behavioral Problems in Adolescence
Rebecca Sheppard
The College at Brockport, State University of New York
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 2
Abstract
With divorce being a serious issue in the United States, many times it can have a large impact on
the family as a whole, in particular the separated parent’s offspring adolescent. During
adolescence, a critical development process occurs that shapes who their future self will be. Past
research has examined the negative effects divorce plays on adolescent whose parents became
separated. Research has also found that fathers are more likely than mothers to disengage from
their offspring in response to marital conflict. Because of this, the current study will examine in
particular, the effects on the adolescent who lives with their divorced father. The purpose of this
study is to examine the father- adolescent relationship, and what internalizing and externalizing
behavioral problems the adolescent takes on when living full custody with their divorced father.
The study will look at 60 families, including the divorced father and their offspring adolescent,
in the Finger Lakes region. We will examine the father- adolescent relationship and the
adolescents internalizing and externalizing behavioral symptoms to see if there is a relationship
between the two. We will compare the adolescents who have a negative father-adolescent
relationship to those who have a positive father- adolescent relationship and see how that
corresponds to the adolescent’s behavioral problems. We expect to see that adolescents who have
a positive relationship with their father will have less internalizing and externalizing behavioral
problems, compared to those that have a negative relationship with their father.
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 3
Effects of Divorced Fathers on Behavioral Problems in Adolescence
Divorce is a serious issue in the United States, with forty to fifty percent of married
couples getting divorced in the United States. (Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2002.) Many times
when an adolescent offspring of the divorced couple is involved during the divorce, behavioral
problems end up arising due to the chaotic pull between the split of the mother and father.
Adolescence is a critical period of development, where any added stress can be detrimental to the
teen, sense the adolescent is still maturing. Often after the separation of the parents, courts
determine the best living situation is with the mother. Votruba and Braver (2014) stated in their
study “By the last quarter of the 19th century, American culture started to shift away from
regarding a child as the property of the father. Instead it moved toward believing that custody
should be awarded based on the child’s interests. At that time, people began to believe that most
children, especially if they were young, were better off in the care of their mothers.” With this in
mind, many research studies have examined the effects of the divorce on the adolescent when the
mother has custody and the mother–child relationship. Little research has been done studying
what effects divorce has on the offspring adolescent when the father has custody, and the father-
child relationship.
Weaver and Schofield (2014) found that children from divorced families had
significantly more behavioral problems than peers from intact families, and these problems were
evident immediately after the separation and later on, in early and middle adolescence. This
study focused on the mother and teacher’s assessments of the child’s behavior. An important
limitation noted was the studies lack of information about the father’s behavior following the
parent’s separation.
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 4
Evidence suggests the fathers parenting quality has a distinct and important role in early
cognitive development and regulatory skills, even after maternal parenting (parenting of the
mother) is taken into account. (Cabrera, Shannon, & TamisLeMonda, 2007) Another study found
that over half of the mothers were significantly less available and less responsive to their
children in the post-divorce years than during the failing marriage. (Wallerstein & Lewis, 2013)
Again focusing more on the mother- child relationship, the study found that many of the
adolescents engaged in delinquent activities and truancy, which subsided when the mother
resumed supervision and stabilized family life. Many of the mothers turned their priority from
parenting to rebuilding intimate relationships along with intensive training to achieve economic
independence. Most of the mothers failed to recover and were then cared for by their adolescent
children, who themselves were in desperate need of parenting and support. The current study will
examine how these conditions would differ when the adolescent lives full custody with their
father following divorce, and how that effects the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing
behaviors along with the quality of the father- adolescent relationship. It is important to focus
specifically on the father- adolescent relationship because, Christensen and Heavey (1990) found
that fathers are more likely than mothers to withdraw and disengage from their children in
response to marital conflict.
Looking at the father- adolescent relationship is meaningful because the parent can be
influential on their offspring’s life. Positive parenting, including being sensitive and responsive
to the child’s needs, protects children from the negative fallout associated with parental divorce
because it increases the child’s sense of stability and security in the parent- child relationship and
can strengthen the child’s coping abilities when faced with the challenges of parental separation.
(Weaver &Schofield, 2014) Kochanska and colleagues (2008) found that positive, mutually
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 5
responsive father- child interactions between 7 and 24 months across multiple naturalistic
contexts were positively linked with child self- regulation at 52 months.
Fathers play an extremely important role in the development of their children. With this
being said, the quality of adolescents relationships with their parents plays a critical role in the
development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. (Fanti, Henrich, Brookmeyer, &
Kuperminc, 2008) Parents that are engaged, attuned to the child’s needs, emotionally supportive,
cognitively stimulating, and who foster their child’s development in a warm manner promote the
self- regulated thought and behavior that define executive functioning, in addition to providing a
positive and safe environment for children to practice and master these skills (Carlson, 2009).
The present investigation will look at the relationship between the parent- adolescent
relationship, and the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Specifically, with
post-divorce fathers that have full custody of their offspring adolescent.
We will address this issue by using the Inventory of Parent Attachment (Armsden &
Greenberg, 1987; Raja, McGee, & Stanton, 1992) to measure the parent- adolescent relationship.
The parent- adolescent relationship will be determined by looking at the quality of
communication, trust, and alienation within the adolescents and their father’s relationship. We
will use the Youth Self Report (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) to measure the adolescents
internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Internalizing symptoms including withdrawal, somatic
complaints, and anxiety- depression, externalizing symptoms including aggressive behaviors and
delinquent behaviors. We will put the adolescents who have a good relationship with their father
in one group, and the adolescents who do not have a good relationship with their father in
another group. We will then look at what behavioral problems exist, specifically internalizing
and externalizing, and whether they are present within the two groups. We will accomplish this
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 6
by comparing the adolescents who have a better relationship with their father to those that do
not, and how that relates to their externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. We
hypothesize that adolescents that have a good relationship with their father will create less of an
impact from the negative consequences of divorce, and would therefore create lower symptoms
of internalizing and externalizing behaviors.
Method
Participants
The study will use a sample of 60 families, including the father and their offspring
adolescents in New York, in the Finger Lakes area. We expect the adolescents to range between
14- 21 years old, with an equal percentage of female and male adolescents. All of the adolescents
will be in the sole custody with their fathers after the divorce being within the last five years. The
adolescents will be affiliated with schools in the Finger Lakes area, because of this we expect the
families to be in general a part of a well- educated, middle class, largely White urban group. We
expect the father’s average age to be between 30- 50.
Procedure
Convenience sampling will be used to select participants. Flyers and ads will be posted
on social networks and posted around the Finger Lakes Schools. The schools will consist of high
schools and colleges. Individuals who express interest will be mailed a packet containing a
consent form for the father and an assent form for the adolescent, if under the age of 18. Families
that are interested in the study will be asked to call the research office, and will be recruited by a
research staff member who will explain the study procedures and answer any questions about the
study. The participants will also become aware of reimbursement for participating in the study,
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 7
$30 each, $60 per family. A between subjects nonexperimental research design will be used to
determine the relationship between the adolescent and father’s relationship and the adolescents
internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Trained research assistants will set up times to go to
the participant’s house and administer the Inventory of Parent Attachment and the Youth Self-
Report. The adolescents will complete a short version (12 items) of the Inventory of Parent
Attachment (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987; Raja, McGee, & Stanton, 1992) that measures the
quality of communication, trust, and alienation in the parent–adolescent relationship while in
their natural home environment. An assessment of the adolescent’s behavioral symptoms will be
collected by both the adolescent and father completing the Youth Self Report (Achenbach &
Rescorla, 2001) that covers 112 items of the adolescent’s symptoms and problematic behaviors
displayed during the previous 6 months. We will combine these items into separate measures of
internalizing symptoms (withdrawal, somatic complaints, and anxiety-depression) and
externalizing symptoms (aggressive behaviors, delinquent behaviors).
Kim-Spoon and Longo (2012) used both the Inventory of Parent Attachment and the
Youth Self Report in their research study to examine if adolescents who are less religious than
their parents are at risk for externalizing and internalizing symptoms. They found statistically
significant results, indicating the measures are valid and reliable.
To induce the naturalness of the questionnaire, it will be completed at home and the
research assistant will not be present when the adolescent is filling it out. Sensitive parenting will
be measured by evaluating the scores on The Inventory of Parent Attachment. The adolescent’s
behavioral problems will be measured by evaluating the adolescent and father’s scores on the
Youth Self Report (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). The scores will be obtained and then
analyzed. A between subjects nonexperimental research strategy will be used to determine if
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 8
there is a relationship between the parent- adolescent relationship following post-divorce, and the
adolescent’s behavior. Specifically looking at the internalizing and externalizing symptoms of
the adolescent. Because these groups have pre-existing characteristics, it is more specifically a
differential research design.
Results/ Discussion
The Inventory of Parent attachment questionnaire will be calculated by averaging the
three subscale scores with the alienation subscale reverse-coded. Higher scores for the composite
will indicate a better parent– adolescent relationship. The Youth Self Report will generate a
total-problems score as well as scores on nine subscales: withdrawn, somatic complaints,
anxious/depressed symptoms, delinquent behavior, and aggressive behavior. The addition of the
delinquent behavior and aggressive behavior subscales yields an externalizing score, whereas the
addition of the withdrawn, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed subscales yields an
internalizing score. The scores will be averaged together; the higher the scores indicating the
worst internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems the adolescent has. An independent
measures T- test will be used to examine the statistical significance of the mean differences
between the groups of scores. In this case, the two groups of scores are the parent- adolescent
relationship, and the adolescent’s behavior. It will then be determined if there is a relationship
between the two scores.
It is predicted that the results will show a strong negative correlation, meaning that high
scores on The Inventory of Parent Attachment are expected to be strongly associated with lower
scores on the Youth Self Report. The two variables should change in opposite directions.
Adolescents with minimal externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems should be related
to a positive parent- adolescent relationship. This outcome would support the hypothesis that
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 9
having a negative parent- adolescent relationship can be related to the adolescent’s behavioral
problems. This finding would be consistent with Weaver and Schofield (2014) where they found
children from divorced families had significantly more behavioral problems compared to those
with non- divorced families, which were importantly evident in early and middle adolescence.
The significance of finding this outcome would show that there is some type of relationship
between what behavior problems are present during a critical time of development (adolescence),
and the post- divorce father’s relationship with their adolescent. It would indicate that future
research needs to be done to determine why this relationship exists, and what we can do to
minimize the possible negative outcomes on the adolescent’s behavior.
It is also possible that the relationship is positive, meaning the two variables change in
the same direction. This would imply that adolescents who have a positive parent- adolescent
relationship would be related to more internalizing/ externalizing behavioral problems. This
outcome would not be consistent with Carlson (2009) study which found that parents who are
engaged, attuned to the child’s needs, emotionally supportive, cognitively stimulating, and who
foster their child’s development in a warm manner, promote the self- regulated thought and
behavior that define executive functioning. And also, provide a positive and safe environment for
children to practice and master these skills. Another possible outcome is finding no correlation
between the two variables, meaning the two variables don’t have any significant relationship
between each other. This would be inconsistent with Fanti, Henrich, Brookmeyer, and
Kuperminc (2008) findings which state the quality of adolescent’s relationships with their
parents plays a critical role in the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. So,
there must be some type of relationship between the two scores. Both these possible outcomes do
not support the hypothesis. One potential extraneous variable that could be responsible for the
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 10
unexpected results is the method by which participants would be obtained to be in the study.
Because convenience sampling would be used, it is more likely to result in a biased, non-
representative sample. Another possible limitation could be the fact that the relations between
parent- adolescent relationship and adolescent adjustment would be based solely upon the
adolescent reports, which might be artificially inflated due to method variance. Also, since only
questionnaires would be used as a mean of determining behavior problems and parent-
adolescent relationships, future studies could benefit by integrating interviews and observations
as another way to collect a more accurate result. Future studies could also benefit by following
the families over time to determine what factors influence the adolescent’s behavior symptoms.
Future research could examine what causes the adolescents behavioral problems to
increase when living with their divorced father. What specific qualities are in the divorced father
that may be causing a negative parent- adolescent relationship? Or, the specific qualities in the
adolescent. What are the other possible environmental factors in the household that may be
accounting for a negative parent- adolescent relationship following the divorce? Once we find
that there is some kind of relationship between the adolescent’s behavioral problems and the
relationship they have with their divorced father while living full custody with them, we can then
answer the question as to why this might occur. This would be a critical finding because we can
create solutions to this problem once we know why.
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH DIVORCED PARENTS 11
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