How Divorce Effects Women

How Divorce Effects Women

Rosie Nelson

Chaline Thande
Izzy Lawrence
Megan Clark

Sometimes when people think of divorce they think of children, men, or family as a whole. What about women? How do women suffer?

 

How does Divorce effect women emotionally?

 

Many women suffer from Depression following their divorce.

There are several physical symptoms of depression:

-Trouble sleeping

-increased or decreased appetite leading to weigh gain or loss

-Hard time concentrating

 

Another  symptom….

 According to the Depression Health Center of Web MD (2011) a common symptom in women is, “Persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain” (page 1).

 

 Physical Health Problems for divorced women

-People who go through divorce life expectancies are shorter

-People who have gone through a divorce survival rates are lower if diagnosed with cancer

 

 “Focus On the Family”, a Christian Divorce Website Author Amy Desai, J.D. (2006-07) stated, “Emotional trauma of divorce has a longterm impact on the physical health of the body.”

 

Saylnn Boyes (2009) from Web MD stated the following in her article “ Divorce Has Lasting Toll on Health”:  “Sociologist and study co-author Linda J. Waite, PhD, of the University of Chicago tells WebMD that divorce and widowhood appear to have a more long-term influence on physical health than on mental health” (page 1).

 

 

Source: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=how+divorce+affects+women%27s+health&start=146&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4SKPT_enUS448US453&biw=1093&bih=513&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=LTuM2_fBs4fkpM:&imgrefurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/divorce-stress-syndrome-p_n_1282451.html&docid=xeMALsnAK-Em7M&imgurl=http://i.huffpost.com/gen/502929/thumbs/r-STRESSED-WOMAN-large570.jpg&w=570&h=238&ei=iWWIUKaTLsW10QHD0YDIAQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=239&sig=115322583945776135889&page=10&tbnh=117&tbnw=238&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:46,s:100,i:142&tx=154&ty=74

 

Support Systems for Women going through Divorce:

-Counseling

-Did you know that there are website dedicated to helping women get through Divorce?

-Friends

                                    Do divorced women suffer financially?

Financial aspects of a divorce can be tough. During a divorce women making lots of money of working have a leg up on unemployed women. Divorced women usually have a rougher time financially then men because of several aspects: on average women make less, women with children having to support their children, and sometimes when a women gets divorced she can no longer rely upon her husband’s health insurance. Pamela J. Smock, Wendy D. Manning and Sanjiv Gupta authors of an article titled “The Effect of Marriage and Divorce on Women's Economic Well-Being”  “The social science literature sometimes assesses the relationship between marriage and economic well-being with descriptive statistics comparing the economic well-being of married people with that of persons in other marital-status groups (e.g., McLanahan and Casper 1995; Spain and Bianchi 1996; Waite 1995). These sorts of statistical comparisons show unequivocally that married women are substantially better-off financially on several measures than are their single or divorced counterparts” (pg.795).

Source: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=depressed+women&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4SKPT_enUS448US453&biw=1093&bih=513&tbm=isch&tbnid=tTpnxMu_SrpS-M:&imgrefurl=http://pcosinfo.com/pcos-and-depression-2/&docid=6tI_UGPmQkH1JM&imgurl=http://cherished79.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/depression.jpg&w=1152&h=767&ei=Sp2NUPuXMOrd0QHQ24CwCQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=331&sig=115322583945776135889&page=1&tbnh=134&tbnw=201&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:116&tx=134&ty=85

 

 Many women are happy after divorce, because they are getting out of an unhappy marriage. Many women see it as a new beginning.

In the New York Times article “Divorced, Middle-Aged and Happy: Women, Especially, Adjust to the 90's” author Jane Gross (1992) interviewed women in their forties to fifties about  how they felt about going through Divorce or being able to make more independent decisions:

 

“Typical among the women was Marlene Jones, a 49-year-old department head at a Northern California company. Ms. Jones took great pleasure after divorcing her husband in eating popcorn for dinner rather than cooking and in wearing the White Diamonds perfume she loved rather than the Chanel No. 5 that he insisted on. "I could do anything I wanted for the first time in my life," she said.

-Jane Gross

 “Or Judith A. Yaskin, a 50-year-old Superior Court Judge in New Jersey, who asks no one's permission before spending $200 for supplies for her rose garden. Recently, Judge Yaskin recalled, she overheard a man at the nursery say he was grateful he was not her husband. Not as grateful as she was, Ms. Yaskin said, dryly.”

-Jane Gross

 

 

Sources:

 

Boyles, S. (2009, 07 28). Divorce has lasting toll on health. WebMD Health News, Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20090728/divorce-has-lasting-toll-on-health

 

Depression Health Center-Web MD. (2009). Depression in women. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-women?page=4

 

Manning, W. D., Smock, P. J., & Gupta, S. (1999). The effect of marriage and divorce on women's economic well-being. American Sociological Review, 64(6), 794-812 . Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2657403

 

Jane , G. (1992, 12 7). Divorced, middle-aged and happy: Women, especially, adjust to the 90's. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/07/us/divorced-middle-aged-and-happy-women-especially-adjust-to-the-90-s.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

 

Teenage Parents

Teenage Parents

By A. Arnold

            There has been a recent sensation of shows about teenage parents (for instance Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant); it would seem that America is fascinated by teen parents.  But who are these youngsters and what happens to their children?

What happens to teenagers who become parents?

            Becoming a teenage parent changes your life in a lot of ways.  Often times juggling a baby and school is just too hard for young parents and their education suffers.  Only 38% of teen mothers graduate high school, compared to the 92% of women nationwide.  In fact, parenthood is the leading cause of dropping out of school among women.  Obtaining a college degree is even harder with teen mothers as less than 2% earn a college degree by age 30.

            Because of this lack of education the majority teenage parents (both mothers and fathers) never advance beyond entry-level positions.  The majority of teens who become parents while living in poverty stay in poverty. 

            Most teenage parents are single parents as 8 out of 10 teenage parents split up before the baby is born.  Only 1/3 of teen parents receive child support.  In addition most teenage parents are living in poverty and so even if the parent not living with the child pays child support is it usually less than $800 per month. 

            Teenage parents also have higher rates of depression, alcohol abuse, and substance abuse.

            One in four teenage mothers will become pregnant within 24 months after the birth of her first child.  This often compounds these problems.

 

What about the children of teen parents?

            Because teen mothers are less likely to receive prenatal care, gain the appropriate amount of weight, and eat well and more likely to smoke tobacco, drink, and take drugs their children are more likely to have birth defects, be born premature and have low birth weight.

            Teen parenthood doesn’t just affect the parent’s education; it also affects the child’s. Only 2/3 of children of teen parents graduate high school, as opposed to the 81% of children nationwide and children of teen parents are 50% more likely to repeat a grade. 

            The effects on children of teen parents don’t just affect their education.  Sons of teen parents are twice as likely to end up in prison than sons of older parents and daughters of teen mothers are three times more likely to become teen mothers themselves. The children of teen parents are twice as likely to be abused as children than children of older parents. Children of teen parents are also more likely to suffer mental illnesses such as substance abuse, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety disorder.

How does teen parenthood affect the nation?

            Teen parents are more likely to use public assistance and live in poverty.  Children of teen parents are more likely to be charged with a crime, end up in prison, they are 2.2 times as likely to end up in foster care, and are more likely to have physical or mental health problems. Because of lost tax revenue, the cost of public assistance programs such as food stamps and welfare, child health care, the increased need for foster care, and the increased involvement in the criminal courts and prisons it is estimated that teen pregnancies cost the United States 9 billion dollars per year.

So how do we prevent teen parenthood?

This is an example from the critically acclaimed film "Mean Girls" of how NOT to teach students about sex

            The best way to prevent teen parenthood is to educate teens about safe sex, contraception, and abstinence.  The CDC has defined teen pregnancy as a public health problem and has implemented programs across the country to reduce teen pregnancy and so far they’re working! Despite the rash of TV programs glorifying teen parenthood in this country, the rate of teen pregnancy in the US is the lowest it’s ever been.

Sources I Used:

o   http://misacor-usa.org/index.php/teenage-pregnancy-and-education

o   http://www.stayteen.org/teen-pregnancy

o   http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.htm

o   http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/teen_moms_how_poverty_and_inequality_cause_teens_to_have_babies_not_the_other_way_around_.html

o   http://www.healthcommunities.com/teen-pregnancy/children/sex-education.shtml