Chapter 15 blog

David Komorowski
Chapter 15 blog

Summary: Within this chapter we talk about separation and divorce. At first separation is defined and described in phases. It starts with pre-separation, to early separation, to late separation. Some outcomes described can be separation and reconciliation, separating without divorce, and with divorce. We then look at divorce trends and more specifically within the U.S. Opposed to popular belief, divorce has decreased within the last ten to twenty years. We then look at definitions of certain types of divorce including emotional, legal, economic, co-parental, community, and physic. Next looked at are why people divorce including macro level reasons (laws, military, tech, etc.), demographic variables (age at marriage, premarital pregnancy, etc), and micro level or interpersonal reasons (infidelity, communication, etc). After this is spoken about we then look at same-sex divorce and implications dealing with that concept. After this, the affects of divorce on adults is discussed. These happen to include physical, emotional, and psychological. More specifically they could include economic and financial changes, etc. We then look at and discuss questions about child support and custody like, “Who has to pay what? Who keeps the child?” and questions of the like. On the opposite end of the spectrum we then can see how divorce impacts children which seem to be more on the psychological end than financial end because parents usually take care of that until the child is 18. The end of the chapter discusses certain things that can help families go through their tough divorce which include counseling, marital therapy, divorces mediation, etc.

What I learned: I had no idea that there were so many ways that one could cope with a divorce. I had never heard of collaborative divorce but believe that it can definitely help a couple not see the divorce as black and white but work together to be civil about the process. Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to any divorce coping methods but I believe that this one seems pretty good. Another thing that I was surprised to see in this chapter was positive benefits of divorce, especially pertaining to children. One way that I realized after reading about this was the comparison between living in a broken home or in two happy and separate homes. I believe this to be a very strong argument and also believe it to be true.

What could’ve been better?
As I said before in other chapters, I believe the same-sex section is extremely short. Yet this time I believe I have reasons for why it is always such a short section. First of all, for many years people have been protesting gay marriage and legislation has been passed in few states to legally allow it. With that being said, people would be less willing to study and make data on such a debated topic. This would essentially if someone today were to do a close study on pedophilia—taboo and illegal in the U.S.—they just wouldn’t do such a thing because it would be unheard of as well as wrong. Along with that, I believe that it is such a new concept just now brought to the light of the media (compared to other topics) in the political arena. I believe with more time—and acceptance—that more studies will be done on homosexual marriages, laws, etc.