Co-Parenting In Divorce

Superior Essays
The Role of Co-Parenting In Families of Divorce
Elliot Schwartz #2725190
The University of Kansas
11/19/2015

Author Note:
Elliot Schwartz, PSYC 333, The University of Kansas,
Submitted as partial requirement of PSYC 333 Development In marage two people are drawn together to create an alliance and declare the reasons why they are with each other. In many of these alliances the two people decide to bring a child into the world. However, the reasons that brought these two together do not always hold strong, and for rational only the two of can truly understand couples marriages end in divorce. This can be especially overwhelming for a couple who have decided to build a family together. Yet, in a situation where a families
…show more content…
Coparenting: A Conceptual and Clinical Examination of Family Systems describe coparenting as “an enterprise undertaken by two or more adults working together to raise a child for whom they share responsibility” (McHale & Lindhal, 2011). This term goes with any alliance between two people who have agreed on taking on the challenges of raising a child, divorced or not divorced. With that, the approach to coparenting in a marriage and coparenting following a divorce tend to differ. Post divorce coparenting focuses on the methods and decions made by parents to raise a child together after the divorce has occurred. This is looked at in many different ways, some being; how the parents communicate, how they interact, and how they decide to care for the child (Beckmeyer, Coleman & Ganong 2014). Coparenting in these situations looks at the cooperativness of the parents in takeing care of the childs needs despite their separation of …show more content…
Some of these factors being the distance between the parents, the possible strife now created amongst the parents, as well as a new way of living the child may not be familiar with (McBroom 2010). With divorce, comes the literal separation of the child’s two parents. An idea that the child has become so secure with is that the child lives with his parents. Now this simple idea that the child has become accustomed to is being inverted. A distance between the two people the child has built an attachment to has been created. The distance of separation varies with each relationship. In some cases the separation can be short and only a walk or a short drive can separate the parents. In other cases the detachment can be longer, where the parents find themselves separated by cities or even states. Along with distance conflict can affect how an adolescent expierences a divorce.. This type of conflict can arise greatly in the amount of communication between the parents. In terms of communication the parents may speak little or not even at all. In unfortunate examples, the only communication efforts between the two parents are passed through the child (McBroom 2010). Also, the style of living that the child was once used to now must change as a result of the divorce. The separation causes an economic burden on the parents to possess separate finances while still

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    For children who are five years and below, they may have problem sleeping; at that stage, the only language they understand is one united family- seeing Mummy and Daddy together is what makes them happy. Adolescents on their part easily become susceptible to live endangering lifestyles such as theft, sex, violence, alcohol, and drugs. Other adolescents may unnecessarily become stubborn and incorrigible. In addition to this, children from broken homes are likely to spend their lives in poverty.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Taking Sides Paper Laura Stapley Brigham Young University SFL 210, Section 003 Taking Sides: Divorce The world today is filled with so much information, opinions and controversy on endless issues and subjects that it is difficult to differentiate between what is accurate and what is contrived. Therefore, it is important to be able to decipher a credible source of information from a lacking one, especially in published articles. An article written in 1996 by Karl Zinsmeister discusses research conducted on the impact divorce has on children. The article, while thought provoking, has many weaknesses and flaws in its credibility.…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The quality of father-child relationships prior to divorce is, therefore, critical. Extended family, especially grandparents, play an important role in supporting their children and grandchildren around the time of separation (Perry et al. 2000). Grandparents assist in several areas: financial, housing, child care, legal and other advice, and emotional support (Timonen et al. 2009). Indeed, Dunn and Deater-Deckard (2001) found that children who had a maternal grandmother as a confidant during and after divorce had fewer adjustment problems. In summary, it appears that pre-divorce relationships within the family have a vast influence on post-divorce adjustment.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Divorce is a very prominent occurrence in American families; statistics show that nearly forty to fifty percent of Americans divorce at sometime. Divorce, often looked down upon, may be necessary to resolve complications. Many significant problems may arise from a divorce however. Three predominant effects on children who have divorced parents are mental issues, social problems, and financial instability.…

    • 124 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    It is imperative for the sake of the children that parents learn to compromise; this will help to minimize the negative effects that the post-divorce family has on the children. The way children adjust to divorce is directly related to the parent’s behaviors, attitudes, and relationship. When parents can display loving kindness, respect and model good behavior for each…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child custody is important for counselors to understand, which parent has legal decision making or could sign the consent. Children of divorced parents often receive less parenting as the single parent works more to overcompensate from the loss of the second income, causing the families to have less time together. Single parents more often consider the opinion of their child when it comes to holiday and vacation decisions, versus in a two-parent family, the parents make the decisions together, leaving less space for the opinion of any children (Geuens,…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each emotional style has his own consequences and effects. Today I am going to talk about Abandonment style. It is very important to know the concept of this emotional style. Abandonment is the legal term describing the failure of a non-custodial parent to provide support, it is more likely negative feelings and could affect very serious. In common use, abandonment refers to the desertion of a child by a parent.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Divorce introduces major changes within a family dynamic no matter what the age of the individuals involved. Divorce carries out heartbreak, pain, and confusion. Children are extremely susceptible to the pain and confusion that accompanies the divorce of their parents. Children witness the loss of love between parents, undergo the adjustment of two different households, and experience the daily absence of one parent while living with the other, all of which create a challenging new family dynamic. Various responses occur due to this stressful change among childhood, school age and adolescent children.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Divorce Rates In America

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to that statistic, 2,000,000 adults and 1,000,000 children were subjected to the effects of a divorce. When a divorce occurs, it can put an extreme amount of tension on not only the two adults, but also between the adults and children. In most cases of divorce, the child will end up with either mother or father, but rarely get to see both. A primary effect of divorce is a shown decline on relationships between child and parent. Support that they receive from home is rated much lower by children from divorced homes, than those from intact homes according to Jane Miller.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Effects of Parental Conflict and Divorce on Children Many children are greatly affected when their parents have arguments or when their parents go through a divorce. It is not easy to see the two people you love fight or go through a divorce. Studies have shown that when parents are physically abusive or verbally abusive towards each other, that affects children emotionally, cognitively, and can cause problems with their social development.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Joint Separation

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The relationships among family members are better in shared custody agreements compared to sole-custody ones. These improved relationships are a result of the additional free time each parent has to interact with his or her child (due to the sharing of parental duties) and of the co-operative relationship many separated couples develop in order to raise their infant properly. One of the main arguments against joint custody is that intense parental conflict is an unavoidable consequence thereof (Gunnoe and Braver 36). However, this has been disproven on a number of occasions. In King and Heard’s study on parental satisfaction and child well-being following parental separation, results show that parents with frequent visits/joint custodial agreements report incredibly low levels of conflict (King and Heard 389).…

    • 1616 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriages that have intense conflict between the parents could cause a negative impact on the future development of the child. However, couples that are able to work out their differences the child can experience a more negative impact on them. In addition, when the negative outcomes emerge in the pre-divorce period, it is possible that a positive about face can occur during the in-divorce period. Some consequences of parental divorce can include an…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s society, the idea of marriage, creating and maintaining a family, is meant to be held up equally between both the husband and the wife, based on the concept of co-parenting. Co-parenting, in an ideal marriage, is when both the husband and wife contribute half of both the child care and income, while maintaining a healthy relationship. In Hope Edelman’s “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed To Be. How It Was”, Edelman disproves this concept by revealing that , despite the efforts coming from the husband, the wife is ultimately left responsible for all parenting and household needs. In doing this, she realizes that her marriage has become one like her parents because of the gender roles that are established by society.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Transition

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages

    While some studies found that there was little effect on the quality of the parent-child relationship after the child leaves home there also seem to be some improvements. Parents report greater satisfaction with their relationships, possibly because of distance or the child growing out of the difficulties that arise in the teen years. Difficulties may arise if at some point the adult child moves back, which is becoming increasingly common due to economic strain and unemployment and marital instability. Other factors such as child dependence or need for protection may be involved (Bouchard, 2014). Although it seems many contemporary parents are accommodating of this arrangement, it can be difficult because roles must be redefined and the parents may experience a sense of loss over what may have been a newfound sense of freedom and other advantages they experienced during the postparental period.…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article, “The effects of divorce on America”, written by Patrick Fagan and Robert Rector explains how divorce is not only hurting society but children. This article expresses the effects divorce has on a child’s life including educational ability, job stability, and emotional health. When children go through a divorce they are sometime left in the turmoil and are forced to make very difficult decisions which adds stress to the traumatizing experience. The authors said most of the emotional and psychological damage is due to the degenerating relationships with the two parents, or when one child and a parent. Upon reading this article I realized divorce not only effects the family involved but also future generations.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays