Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Assignment: Divorce

1. Behavior: The Lasting Wounds of Divorce. by Anastasia Toufexis Retrieved from Time Magazine online.

2. The article i found, talked about the lasting effects of divorce on children. Researcher Judith Wallerstein conducted a study over a 15-year period with 60 families and 131 children who were 2 to 18 years old at the time of the divorce. Most of the families were white middle class. From the study, she found that 3 out of 5 children felt rejected by at least one parent. Half of the children experienced their parents arguing with each other even after the divorce. Two-thirds of the girls became anxious, unable to have a stable relationship, and fearful of betrayal in an intimate relationship as young adults. Also, many boys failed to develop independence, confidence, and purpose resulting them in and out of college and going from job to job.

3. According to other researchers, they do not believe that the damage of divorce is not as pervasive as Wallerstein says. These researchers such as Jo Anne Pedro-Carroll, indicated hat the study was too small and there was no group of intact therefore, the study was not accurate. In some aspects, the study may seem accurate because Wallerstein gave perfect examples of how devastating divorce can be for children. On the other hand, many family experts have been looking for ways to ease the pain and burden of divorce in young children.

4. The researchers could be improved by conducting a large research with more families. it will as be better if they include families of different socio-economic statuses and race.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Assignment 6

1. One example of ancient marriage that is still practiced today described by the author and is very different from the "one man, one woman idea" was that of Tibet. Their idea of marriage is very different and weird. Brothers shared one wife rather than each man having their own woman. This is very different from our "one man, one woman idea" because men are sharing one woman as well as having kids with her.

2. Both the poor and middle class women group are postponing marriage for various reasons. Women want to be more financially stabled before getting married and starting a family. Also, women are also going to school and attending school for long periods of time rather than think about settling down and having a family. Poor and middle class women are focused on progressing in life and becoming a professional. They want to be financially stabled before getting married and starting a family because they do not want to run the risk of losing support of their spouse.