THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON SCHOOL AGE (9TH GRADERS) CHILDREN'S
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AS REFLECTED BY OVERALL END-TERM
According to Clarke-Stewart, Friedman and Koch (1985):
There are well over a million divorces in this country every year, and 70 percent of these families have children. (pp 476-477)
Not only has divorce risen to these staggering proportions but there are indications that the divorce rate is still increasing. Such statistics highlight the importance of understanding how divorce affects people, especially for children whose underdeveloped cognitive and emotional skills can make them particularly vulnerable. This study constitutes research aimed at increasing this understanding.
The research problem examined the study was divorce and its impact on the academic performance of groups of 9th grade students. The conducted study utilized a randomized, posttest-only, equivalent groups design comparing the overall, end-term GPAs of the following three student groups: (1) students whose parents have been divorced less than one year; (2) students whose parents have been divorced between one and two years; and (3) students whose parents have never been divorced or separated (stable-home students).
A good deal of research has examined for the affects of divorce on school-age children. According to Tomlinson-Keasey (1985), these effects, while diverse in form, are generally indicative of emotional distress. She further points out that the form of the distress can vary with age - e.g. preschoolers may start bed-wetting or stuttering while school-age children may develop fears of spending the night at a friend's house.
With respect to the affects of divorce, a number of negative consequences have been observed to be associated with marital breakup. For example, Hetherington, Camara and Featherman (1983) observed that children from divorced homes evidenced lower IQ scores than did children from stable hom...