Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Success of Children

Rating:
Summary: From an academic librarian
Review: As director of an academic library of a private college, I have looked for quality works in family studies. There has been a resurgence of interest into the societal effects of divorce in our nation, with some noteworthy contributions from Linda Waite and others. Some others, however, have approached the question in a less than objective fashion. I am therefore glad to recommend Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Achievement of Children. In an admirably even-handed manner, Dr. William Jeynes, Professor of Teacher Education at California State University at Long Beach, has conducted an analysis of the research on whether divorce and remarriage makes a difference in how well children learn. This book should be in every college library, especially the libraries of colleges that train teachers. Jeynes' analysis and recommendations make the book important for parents, teachers and community leaders, as well. The section on the effects of remarriage alone is worth the price of the book.
It is difficult to imagine a more thorough scrutiny of the studies in this field than that performed by Jeynes. Sifting through a plethora of investigations into the divorce-learning link, he notes procedural flaws in a number of the methods that should bring family studies researchers back into the field. Noting the relatively few serious inquiries into the possibility that remarriage negatively impacts children academically, Jeynes' examination calls for new studies to be conducted to determine the extent that this kind of family structure change makes it harder for many students to concentrate on and benefit from even the best efforts of teachers.
Having noted the methodological deficiencies in the research, Jeynes nevertheless finds enough evidence to point to a clear connection between divorce, remarriage, and why Johnny can't read (or understand math or think critically). He substantiates the meteoric rise in family structure breakdown since the 1960's while at the same time reminding us that during most of America's history families enjoyed marital stability and a deeper level of security for children "Even including those children who had lost a parent due to death, the percentage of children in single-parent homes remained in single digits until the early 1960s . . . Today, the U.S. holds the highest divorce rate in the world, with a rate 64% higher than second place Great Britain . . . Estimates are that in the future, 70% of the divorces taking place may involve children under the age of 18 . . . " The impact of family dissolution is documented, showing "a large gap between the GPA of children from one-and two-parent homes. . . the effects of divorce proved quite consistent across grade levels. . . . divorce shows a consistent effect on academic achievement among students in both junior high school and high school. . . . (and) the academic disadvantages associated with being a child of divorce may become larger over time." Moreover, the negative impact the child suffers when parents divorce often intensifies when the custodial parent remarries, and "any positive impact that we would normally associate with a rise in the SES level is more than canceled out by other ways in which remarriage is apparently harmful to children."
Jeynes cautions the educational world to not equate the effects of family structure with those of poverty: "The chief danger of viewing the effects of parental divorce as almost entirely a socioeconomic status phenomenon is that children of divorce will be viewed as facing no real handicap beyond the fact that they come from homes of low socioeconomic status. . . . A high level of pain is often felt by children who have lost a parent or who do not even know who is their parent. . There needs to be a greater acknowledgment that simply attempting to raise the SES level of children from these families will do little to redress this pain." Regarding the comparative silence of many educators when confronted with the diminished academic achievement of children touched by divorce, Jeynes remarks that "it is the very avoidance of dialogue on these issues that is insensitive. For to the extent that divorce causes children to hurt, Americans in any field of endeavor, ought to do what they can to minimize that hurt. And educators and sociologists ought to join those in the clergy and marriage/family counseling, in doing what they can to address the hurt in children that divorce causes."
Educators at all levels have decried the precipitous slide in academic achievement of a growing number of their students. Teachers struggle with the frequent temptation to lower their expectations in their classrooms. At the college level, the level of preparedness of an increasing portion of students has often resulted in the dropping of standards for all students. Grade inflation is a problem even in Ivy League schools. Students lack the concentration and the discipline to engage complex material or subjects that build upon an assumed field of background knowledge that the child or adolescent in fact has not successfully acquired. Articulate presentations fail to get the critical analysis they deserve, and many students conclude that no one can know anything for sure: "It's all just one opinion over against another." Often they assent to the last opinion they encountered, or to the opinion most forcefully or most creatively presented. In truth, the problem may be that they have never been able to develop the cognitive depth to critique nuanced positions, hampered by the effects of divorce.
In a nation that expends more money for education than any other in history, if there is a single most important cause of this slippery slope we are on, it should be of high interest to everyone to know what it might be. Perhaps change in parental marital status does need a closer look to see if indeed it is the most significant causative factor for the deterioration of the achievement level of the American student.

Rating:
Summary: From an academic librarian
Review: As director of an academic library of a private college, I have looked for quality works in family studies. There has been a resurgence of interest into the societal effects of divorce in our nation, with some noteworthy contributions from Linda Waite and others. Some of the work, however, has approached the question in a less than objective fashion. I am therefore glad to recommend Divorce, Family Structure, and the Academic Achievement of Children. This book should be in the library of every college, especially those that engage in training teachers. It is a must-read for teachers of any age group. Parents and community leaders will also benefit from the book's cogent analysis and recommendations. In an admirably even-handed manner, Dr. William Jeynes, Professor of Teacher Education at California State University at Long Beach, has conducted an analysis of the research on whether divorce and remarriage makes a difference in how well children learn.
It is difficult to imagine a more thorough scrutiny of the studies in this field than that performed by Jeynes. Sifting through a plethora of investigations into the divorce-learning link, he notes procedural flaws in a number of the methods that should bring family studies researchers back into the field. Noting the relatively few serious inquiries into the possibility that remarriage negatively impacts children academically, Jeynes' examination calls for new studies to be conducted to determine the extent that this kind of family structure change makes it harder for many students to concentrate on and benefit from even the best efforts of teachers.
Having noted the methodological deficiencies in the research, Jeynes nevertheless finds enough evidence to point to a clear connection between divorce, remarriage, and why Johnny can't read (or understand math or think critically). He substantiates the meteoric rise in family structure breakdown since the 1960's and at the same time reminds us that, during most of America's history, families enjoyed marital stability and a deeper level of security for children: "Even including those children who had lost a parent due to death, the percentage of children in single-parent homes remained in single digits until the early 1960s . . . Today, the U.S. holds the highest divorce rate in the world, with a rate 64% higher than second place Great Britain . . . Estimates are that in the future, 70% of the divorces taking place may involve children under the age of 18 . . . " The author suggests that there is indeed a causal relationship between both divorce and declines in academic achievement and also between remarriage and declines in academic achievement. He encourages education professionals to dialogue not only about the academic effects of divorce and remarriage but also about the various undesirable social behaviors which are highly correlated with coming from a divorced home.
Dr. Jeynes concludes, ". . . To the extent that divorce causes children to hurt, Americans in any field of endeavor ought to do what they can to minimize that hurt."
Educators at all levels have decried the precipitous slide in academic achievement of a growing number of their students. Teachers struggle with the frequent temptation to lower their expectations in their classrooms. At the college level, the level of preparedness of an increasing portion of students has often resulted in the dropping of standards for all students. Grade inflation is a problem even in Ivy League schools. Students lack the concentration and the discipline to engage complex material or subjects that build upon an assumed field of background knowledge that the child or adolescent in fact has not successfully acquired. Articulate presentations fail to get the critical analysis they deserve, and many students conclude that no one can know anything for sure: "It's all just one opinion over against another." Often they assent to the last opinion they encountered, or to the opinion most forcefully or most creatively presented. In truth, the problem may be that they have never been able to develop the cognitive depth to critique nuanced positions.
In a nation that expends more money for education than any other in history, if there is a single most important cause of this slippery slope we are on, it should be of high interest to everyone to know what it might be. Perhaps change in parental marital status does need a closer look to see if indeed it is the most significant causative factor for the deterioration of the achievement level of the American student.