Barden 1

Brooks Barden
Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1102-016
4 November 2014
Annotated Bibliography
How do divorces affect children?
Creigh. "My Divorce Story." Web log post. Weebly. Creigh, n.d. Web.
<http://divorceandteens.weebly.com/my-divorce-story4.html>.
Creigh discusses her personal story and insight going through a time where her parents
marriage was struggling to stay together and ended up in a divorce. She talks about the
time period starting before her parents officially divorced to long after the divorce
occurred. She mentions coming home from school one day and finding a message on the
answering machine which caught her completely by surprise. She heard a message from
her mothers divorce lawyer which was what she least expected. Her parents tried to
make it work, but they officially divorced in September causing Creighs world to flip
completely upside down. She talks about all of the struggles and obstacles following the
divorce for her family and herself.
This research provided me with personal experience of a child dealing with divorcing
parents. It gave me everything that I was looking for from a personal standpoint. Creigh
provided her feelings, struggles, and her familys troubles as well. Throughout her post,
her tone was very depressed and negative, however she did provide few positives to her
situation. By the end of her post, she was very optimistic letting any readers know that
they can make it through a situation like hers. To conclude her post, she states, Life after

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a divorce is messy, and nothing in life is ever perfect. What I can tell you is that my
parents love both my sister and me a great deal, even though they no longer love each
other. And I can safely say that with each year that passes we work through more issues,
and my family becomes happier and more stable. What I have learned from this
experience is that things do get better, and there is life after divorce if you can just hang
in there. I'm looking forward to the future.
Will children of divorcing parents think it is accepted and maybe lead to them getting a
divorce in the future when they are married?

What are some reasons why couples get divorced?

"Divorce Articles." The Top 10 Reasons Marriages End in Divorce. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov.
2014.
<https://stearns-law.com/resources/family-law-blog/divorce/52-the-top-10-reasonsmarriages-end-in-divorce>.
This blog post provides the top ten reasons as to why marriages end in divorce. The
author of this blog post is unknown, however within their top ten, they talk about abuse,
religious and cultural differences, insecurity, expectations from each other, trust,
finances, and lastly lack of communication being at the top of the list. All of these are
very common and most heard of when researching or hearing about various divorces
occurring. As mentioned in the post, if any of these becomes a consistent topic of
discussion between spouses, a divorce is more than likely on its way.
This post gave clear cut answers to the inquiry questions used in finding this research.
Not only did it give me reasons as to why most couples get divorced; it also gave them in

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a top ten and provide a brief description for each one. In this post, I was able to find
relative information to the inquiry question that I used in researching this topic.
Because divorces are more common today, do we as a culture have different attitudes
toward marriage and divorce than we used to?

Do children of divorce relate better to other children of divorce?

Gullickson, Terri. "Stepfamily Realities: How to Overcome Difficulties and Have a Happy
Family." PsycCRITIQUES 40.3 (1995): n. pag. Web.

<https://www.extension.purdue.edu/providerparent/PDF%20Links/HowChildrenExperie
nceDivorce.pdf>.

Divorce can have many different effects on many different children. For some, it is very
hard to deal with and impacts the rest of their lives in a negative way for the most part.
For others, they see it as a positive and it may make them happy so they dont have to see
conflict between their parents all the time. The impact of divorce on children can be so
different in so many different ways.
I wasnt able to find much of an answer to my inquiry question used in this research. The
PDF provided lots of evidence pertaining to divorce, however none of it was relevant to
whether or not children of divorce relate better to other children of divorce. I personally
believe this statement to be true. I for one would think that children at all ages and stages
of the divorce process would be able to relate to one another and find many things in
common.
Do children of divorce relate better to other children of divorce?

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Do children of divorce feel the need to really grow up and mature?

Childrens Reactions to Divorce (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
< http://drwendyhart.com/pdfs/crtd.pdf>.
Children dealing with divorcing parents go through different stages and have many
different issues and trials that they face. Divorce can have different effects on children at
different ages. Children dealing with divorce at a very early age can have many negative
effects, but they are really too young to understand what is really going on. Research
shows that, adolescents from divorced families may become more mature and able to
think through issues more clearly. They tend to worry about what their parents have
experienced and been through and fear that it might happen to them.
In my research, I found that children of divorce, especially teenagers, do tend to feel the
need to mature and take on more responsibility. This targeted the inquiry question
proposed to this topic and gave a great deal of information. I found that specifically
teenagers do have a hard time dealing with the divorce of their parents, however they take
on more responsibility and tend to grow up much quicker. Some even take on the role of
a parent when their own are acting childish and immature.
Will children of divorcing parents choose to pick a side or stay faithful to both mom and
dad?

Can a hopeless marriage be restored?

Weiss, LeAnn. "Hope for Hopeless Marriages." Crosswalk.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov.
2014.

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<http://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/hope-for-hopeless-marriages11599013.html>.
Things couldnt have been better for Tracey and Mark. They were high school
sweethearts and just bound to have the perfect marriage and live happily ever after. After
they went off on their honeymoon, Mark all of a sudden decided that they had made a
mistake and they were not meant to be together. Tracey was completely shell shocked
and did not know what to think. After coming home from their honeymoon, Tracey found
out that she was pregnant. Mark resented Tracey even more and wanted nothing to do
with her and her child. Two years later, Mark made it very clear that they were not meant
to be together and Tracey filed for divorce. As time went on, Mark began to realize that
he was being selfish and wanted to try and make things work again, but Tracey wanted
no part of it. Both Mark and Tracey going through a very tough time both turned to God
and ended up remarrying and living happy lives together.
This post by LeAnn Weiss was exactly what I was looking to find when I began
researching this inquiry question. I came across this great blog post which gave a
testimony of a failing marriage that found a way to come alive again. This piece by Weiss
gave proof and evidence that a hopeless marriage can truly be saved. This was very much
relevant and provided great insight and information for which I was looking in finding an
answer to the inquiry question proposed to this topic.
What does it take to save a failing marriage?