Divorce And Family Functioning: Article Analysis

In their article “Parental Divorce and Family Functioning: Effects on Differentiation Levels of Young Adults,” Patrick Johnson, Jill M. Thorngren, and Adina J. Smith (The Family Journal 2001) claim that parental divorce has an effect on the developmental task attainment of young adults. The main hypothesis of the article is that young adults from divorced families would exhibit more difficulty with developmental task attainment than those from intact families. It also was expected that specific family factors would moderate the effects of parental divorce. Parents have wondered why their children have started to act out of character. Using the hypothesis of the article and its research, the writers suggest questions could be answered. Overall, the hypothesis will cover and answer several questions that parents have been asking for years. This article’s value lies largely in the help it could give parents, along with their children. …show more content…
Thorngren, and Adina J. Smith’s hypothesis was correct. The experiment done at the university has confirmed young adults from divorced families are more emotionally cut off from significant others that are young adults from intact families. The results of the experiment speak of the effect that parental divorce has on young adults can range from the young adults being emotionally cut off to their being in a more disengaged interpersonal position. The article states “this finding provides some confirmation of the conclusion by previous researchers” ( i.e. Johnson & Nelson, 1998: Johnson et al., 1995) who conceptualized that lower levels of intimacy and individualization with parents and significant peers, have been found in young adults from divorced families as being reflective of emotional isolation. Results also suggest that young adults from divorced families are more emotionally reactive than are young adults from intact