DIVORCE

1.0              Introduction

The phenomenon of divorce has become a major concern for both demographers and individuals. Surprisingly, the developed and developing nations illustrate a rather similar trend of divorce. Many studies concerning divorce had been conducted especially in the West to investigate the pattern of divorce as well factors that that are related to divorce. It is estimate that every 15 minutes, a couple get divorced (Bersatu Teguh Bercerai Roboh, 2006). Besides, there were also a couple who marriage last for at least 24 months and found their marriage has broken down irretrievably, a divorce is necessary to bring the relationship to a formal end.

Usually, people go to a marriage and family therapist for help with some aspect of a family system, or a marital, parent-child, or love relationship. In some cases, people want their family system to function more effectively. In other cases, there is a family problem that needs solving, a change that requires adjustment, or a difficult decision that needs to be made.

2.0       Journals review

2.1       Divorce, family conflict, and adolescent’s wellbeing

This research examined the relative effects of family conflicts and divorce on the well-being of adolescents. There are four hypothesis that had been mention in this journal article regarding the relative effect of divorce and family conflict. The first hypothesis state that the deleterious effect of family conflict are expected to be more damaging than the effect of divorce or separation from a parent. Second hypothesis state that children of divorce who go on to live in a conflict free setting are expected to experience less distress than those in intact family characterized. The third hypotheses expect that the negative effect of divorce to be mediated through the stressful life event that often accompany divorce. The fourth is, expectation of negative effect of divorce and family conflict.

The result from this study had supported the first hypothesis which is the family conflict would have more direct effects on longitudinal changes in well-being than would divorces, current separation from parents, or parental death. The family conflict would have more negative effect on the well-being of adolescents than would divorce or separation.

The test show that the children from a divorce living in a conflict free setting would have significantly higher level of well-being than those living in intact families characterized by higher level of conflicts. There was also evidence that in some instances divorce may protect adolescents from harmful and damaging family interaction. The hypothesis of three and four was not supported as the life event and the perceived quality of relationship with parents did not have the significant main effect on adolescent wellbeing over time. Relationships between parents in conflict, and between parents and their children, are far more complex than our measures revealed.

2.2       The support of cooperative parenting at divorce

The main objective of this article is to discuss a suitable programs for supporting cooperative parenting. The reason is to reduce the psychological and social risks of child development during the process of divorce. The example of educational programs for divorcing parents are Parent Handbook Program offered by University of Vermont Extension. Pavelova (2012) presents the socio-educational programs for groups of children with different forms of problem behavior that could be used to support the children of divorce as well.

            The aim for protection is to create best conditions for child’s development, which all best encounter their development needs and protect their essential interests. One of the basis child’s rights is the right to have contact with both parents if that contact does not threaten the child or any of the child’s rights. The important requirement is that both parents have the capacity to care for the child and had a personal interest in child care.

            It is important to support parents in supportive parenting. The important thing parent should know when divorce is to have the details of an agreement. The agreement which should include all important social and financial arrangements of the child’s every day live such as place of living, health care, school, meeting friends and close family members besides holiday. Parents of divorce could get professional help or support on cooperative parenting. McConnel and Sim (2000) said the effectiveness of counseling services for children had shown that therapy effect of children was better when parents themselves successfully coped with divorce and considered intervention for children as useful. The parent’s ability to understand the emotions of their children increases when parents realized their own experiencing and try to understand it.

The first topic activities have be prepared Slovakia in the program of cooperative parenting support focus on psychological process related to reliving of divorce and changing emotional relationships with partner. The second topic is concerned with experiencing divorce or separation by children. The third topic aims to expand cooperative communication and relationships between both parents. Self-evaluating questioners or scale which help to find out what the clients need or how emotional the parents feel are also used.

2.3       The relationship between perceived interparental conflict and Malaysian young adult adults’ attitudes toward divorce

            This study proposed that further investigation of the relationship between perceived interparental conflict and subsequent attitudes toward divorce is warranted within the context of a non-Western population, Malaysians. Although there were positive association found with western culture with Malaysian culture, it is argued in this study that Malaysian young adults will hold negative attitudes toward divorce as a result of their collectivist ideals. It is hypothesized it is argued in this study that Malaysian young adults will hold negative attitudes toward divorce as a result of their collectivist ideals.

            The participants of this study consisted of 160 Malaysian adults (69 men, 91 women) between 18 and 30 years old. They were from families where the parents are not divorced or separated and were proficient in English to complete the instrument used in this study. The instrument used in this study were (1) The Likelihood of Divorce Scale by Mulder and Gunnoe (1999, (2) The Perceptions of Interparental Conflict−Intensity/Frequency Scale (PIC–I/F) by Klein et al. (1999) to measure an individual’s perceptions of the current conflict that occurs between their parents.

            Participants were recruited thought social networking site Facebook. The Attitude towards Divorce Scale was administered first before PIC–I/F to ensure that responses on the attitude scale would not be influenced by the priming of negative events by the conflict scale. Results shows that there was a significant effect for the interparental conflict variable only, t (158) = –3.02, p < .01, women have higher level of interparental conflict compared to men. The hypothesis that Malaysian young adults will hold negative attitudes toward divorce as a result of their collectivist ideals is rejected in this study. A positive relationship was found between perceived intensity and frequency of interparental conflict and attitudes toward divorce in males and females, respectively; however, the associations were weak.

3.0       Discussion

            According to Amato and Sobolewski (2001), children of divorce parents are also more likely to experience conflict in their own marriages, and are more likely to experience divorce themselves. They are also more likely to be involved in short-term cohabiting relationships, which often dissolve before marriage. A research examined the relative effects of family conflicts and divorce on the well-being of adolescents by David and Stephen (1989) hypothesized a negative effect on the adolescents.

There were four hypothesis in this research. However, only two out of four hypothesis were accepted and the other were rejected. The accepted hypothesis were (1) the family conflict would have more direct effects on longitudinal changes in well-being than would divorces, current separation from parents, or parental death; the family conflict would have more negative effect on the well-being of adolescents than would divorce or separation, and (2) children of divorce who go on to live in a conflict free setting are expected to experience less distress than those in intact family characterized. Moreover, children who have experience a divorce parents frequently have lower academic achievement than the children from non-divorced family. From family and school factors related to adolescents’ academic performance, it noted that a child from a divorced family is two times more likely to drop out of high school than a child from no-divorced family (Amato and Sobolewski, 2001).

            To relate the first journal with the second, the right interventions for divorced parents and their children can help children to experience positive effect even after their divorce. The article objective is to have a suitable programs for supporting cooperative parenting. Even after divorce, when they are no longer husband and wife, they are still parents to their children. This kind of programs stress the importance of parents to be reliable and still take care of their children. Examples of right thing to do after divorce is to have the details of an agreement. With the agreement, parents can know what they should do with their kids and who should be responsible for certain cases.

            Intervention can prevent adolescents from negative effect of divorce as in the first journal. The well-being of the adolescent or children take care by the mother or father; the father will make sure that the children have enough expenses and equipment for school and the mother can look after the adolescent social activities. Parent’s ability to understand their children emotions can be better when parents realized their own experiencing and try to understand it. They should understand the children’s needs so that the children can better performance in life and academic.

            Sabatelli and Ripoll (2004) stated that marriages in the past were perhaps no happier than marriages today; rather, the increased incidence of divorce is a result of a greater willingness of contemporary couples to terminate unsatisfactory relationships. The growing divorce rate has broaden (Kamaruddin, 2005) can be associated with children of divorce parents are also more likely to experience conflict in their own marriages. When a child perceives intensity and frequency of interparental conflict in a positive ways, the attitudes toward divorce will also be positive.

            Children’s perception, interpretation, and evaluation of their parents’ conflict could vary significantly, and be dependent on a number of factors. Given that children possess differing cognitive abilities and collective experiences that influence their appraisals, expectations, and consequent actions during different developmental stages, age is one such factor (Grych & Fernandes, 2001). Gender is also one of the factors affecting children perceive and react to intermarital conflict.

4.0       Conclusion

             When a divorce occurs the children are not the only ones effects but include also parents and siblings of the divorced couple also may become very involved in the process. When divorced spouses remain at war with one another it is likely to affect extended relationships in the child’s relationship system. Good divorce are those in which the children can easily maintain relationship with both parents and their comprehensive systems. When parents are able to reduce their conflicts properly well to co-parent their children effectively, the children continue to have relationships with both parents and maintain their sense of biological family. Well-being is a social concept and how children perceive the effect of their parent’s divorce and the result changes in their lives is dominant to understanding the personal experience of divorce and its impact.

BY:

ARIF

FATEEN

SYUHADA 

5.0       References

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David, M. and Stephen, H. (1989). Divorce, Family Conflict, and Adolescents' Well-Being.

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Hsin Chlen, S., &  Mohamed Sarif Mustaffa. (2008). DIVORCE IN MALAYSIA. Seminar Kaunseling Keluarga (pp. 23-28). Skudai, Johor: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

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Kamaruddin, Z. (2005). Divorce laws in Malaysia. Selangor, Malaysia: Malayan Law Journal.

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Relationship between Perceived Interparental Conflict and Malaysian Young Adults’ Attitudes toward Divorce. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 54, 596–607.

Ong, G. (2014, March 3). Malaysian Couples Are Divorcing Every 10 Minutes. Retrieved May 18, 2015, from VENUZ: http://www.venusbuzz.com/archives/64290/malaysian-couples-divorcing-every-10-minutes/

Sabatelli, R. M., and Ripoll, K. (2004). Variations on marriage over time: An ecological/ exchange perspective. In M. Coleman & L. H. Ganong (Eds.), Handbook of contemporary families: Considering the past, contemplating the future. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.