The Effects of Parental Separation and Divorce on Very Young Children:
Rhetorical Analysis
Every day, young children are affected by the trauma of their parents separating from one another, or getting divorced. In this day and age, divorce has become quite common, and is becoming an ongoing problem for young children. The psychological effects that come from parental separation can be devastating to these children, not just in their early years, but as they grow into adulthood. The author introduced many references to support the research that was obtained to conduct her analysis. However, there is nearly no substantial evidence in any of the studies that were conducted. At the beginning, the author starts off strong with many statistics and references to show the reader an estimate of how many children are left with a single parent to raise them. In the first paragraph the author states “Today, in the United States, 20 million children are living with just one parent (U.S. …show more content…
Perhaps they have assumed that in the first few years of life children do not have as strong a need for a father figure (the parent who is most likely to be unavailable after divorce). On the other hand, theory suggests that loss of a parent at 18-36 months of age, which would be the result if one parent did not stay involved with the child as usually happens, would affect the child’s separation-individuation process (Toomin, 1974) and thus might have a stronger effect on young children” (para. 8). Yet previous to this the author stated “The consequences for very young children have been less widely studied, however, and research on the effects of divorce on infants is virtually absent” (para.
Rhetorical Analysis
Every day, young children are affected by the trauma of their parents separating from one another, or getting divorced. In this day and age, divorce has become quite common, and is becoming an ongoing problem for young children. The psychological effects that come from parental separation can be devastating to these children, not just in their early years, but as they grow into adulthood. The author introduced many references to support the research that was obtained to conduct her analysis. However, there is nearly no substantial evidence in any of the studies that were conducted. At the beginning, the author starts off strong with many statistics and references to show the reader an estimate of how many children are left with a single parent to raise them. In the first paragraph the author states “Today, in the United States, 20 million children are living with just one parent (U.S. …show more content…
Perhaps they have assumed that in the first few years of life children do not have as strong a need for a father figure (the parent who is most likely to be unavailable after divorce). On the other hand, theory suggests that loss of a parent at 18-36 months of age, which would be the result if one parent did not stay involved with the child as usually happens, would affect the child’s separation-individuation process (Toomin, 1974) and thus might have a stronger effect on young children” (para. 8). Yet previous to this the author stated “The consequences for very young children have been less widely studied, however, and research on the effects of divorce on infants is virtually absent” (para.