Womens Virginity And Fidelity Sociology Essay

Womens Virginity And Fidelity Sociology Essay Compare and contrast the significance of the concept womens virginity and fidelity between the Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China, with an attempt to analyse the causes of different attitudes and behaviours in these 2 different eras. Abstract This study focuses on the Chinese womens chastity, especially in the area of Virginity and Fidelity. The comparison and contrast between Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China is examined, with an attempt to find out what possible causes had led to the different perspectives on womens chastity. Qing is regarded as an idol of womens chastity in the entire Chinese history. However, it seemed that the modern youth tend to care less about womens virginity and fidelity. Women seemed no longer devote their entire lives to serve their husbands and in-laws. Apart from the changes in the regions of culture, globalization, and education, the historical progress cannot be ignored as well as governmental policies Introduction With the emergence of the first sex museum for women in China, the perception of sex has begun to attract more attentions of Chinese people (China Daily, 2008). Meanwhile, the roles women played over centuries have vitally contributed to the historical progress of sex. Since ancient China, women are often regarded as a property of men in the patriarchal society (Jaschok and Miers, 1994). According to Marx and Engels (1985), a patriarchal husband à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦sees in his wife a mere instrument of production of prostitution both public and private (1848:101). Nevertheless, accompanied by complex causes, women increasingly gain more rights and equalities in the relationship with men in contemporary China. That is, in comparison with the womens strict virtue in the old days of China, Qing Dynasty in particular, Modern Chinese women as well as men tend to be more open and unfastened to the idea of virginity and fidelity (Ko, Haboush and Piggott, 2003; China Daily, 2003; America Online, 1995; Zhou, 1989). However, many have argued that the root of womens chastity is still solid to convert in China nowadays (Peoples Daily, 2003). There are two remarkable cases that emerged more lately, which to a great extent explain the conflicting value of womens chastity in modern China. A recent report (Richburg, 2010) demonstrated that there is a growing trend of hymen restoration of Chinese women, which they could return to the virgin by the surgical procedure. Similarly, a considered cheaper and easier way of being a pretended virgin is popular and well taken as well as the hymen restoration surgery. According to Gu (2011), the artificial hymen is appeared as a little piece of semi-transparent tissue that you put this into the vagina, itll dissolve and expand. Have sex in about 20 to 30 minutes, and youll bleed'. As a modern Chinese woman, the movement of womens right draws my attention. I am particularly interested in the area of womens chastity, which on one hand is assumed to have a great progress in contrast to Qing dynasty. In regard to the factors that had brought to this evolution, it is hypothesized that apart from the ideological change of the significance of womens chastity, several effects such as the development of technology, governmental policies, education, globalization, and media have likewise led to the different attitudes and behaviours during these two different eras; and on another hand, it is believed that to a certain extent, the attitudes towards womens chastity in Qing dynasty have impacted on modern China. As a consequence, I will focus on the comparison of the significance of the concept of womens virginity and fidelity in Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China, mainly by looking at the two periods of women: pre-marriage and post-marriage. Moreover, several major causes of different attitudes and behaviours in these two different eras will also be discussed respectively. Due to the limitation of time and condition, and the sensitivity of the research topic, the investigation is conducted inside the university campus. Four groups will be studied in order to see the differences between different genders and generations: UNNC girls, UNNC boys, their mothers, and their fathers. In addition, the research of Qing dynasty will be taken place mostly in the review of literatures. Literature Review The literature review will take the progress of the significance of the concept of womens chastity as a whole and continuing process. Thus, not only Qing dynasty and Contemporary China will be examined, the period (1900-2000) between Qing dynasty and Contemporary China is also important due to the fact that it had vital contributions to the development of womens right, which eventually led to the understanding of womens chastity in present China. The following reviews will be ordered generally according to the chronological sequence, and mainly focus on the Qing and the Republican China due to the limited recent researches on Modern Chinese womens chastity. 2.1 Qing Dynasty The traditional concept of chastity is tightly linked to the ideology of patriarchy. As a property of men in the patriarchal society, womens value was merely to breed the progeny and to satisfy men in sexuality. In order to assure the purity of the blood, the strict demand on chastity was therefore emerged. The traditional chastity devoted itself to two sections: virgin before marriage, and be faithful to ones husband unto death after marriage (Li, 2006; Zhou, 2003). As the ideology of cultural expression and the foundation of the family system in imperial China, Confucianism is generally the essential ideology of female virtue in Late Imperial China. Particularly the concept of filiality (xiao) and fidelity (jie) have had great impacts on Qing Dynasty (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). A good example is the foot binding in Qing which according to Mackie (1996), the actual purpose was to ensure womens fidelity. The so-called chastity cult, a way for women to demonstrate their ultimate moral responsibility to the patriline into which they married, was in the position of domination in Qing by honouring two female virtues: purity, similar to fidelity (jie), and martyrdom (commonly regarded as lie). Jie mainly referred to absolute fidelity and sexual purity to one husband, in which women remained their lifelong devotion to serve the husbands family. Compared to jie, lie was more towards the absolute commitment to fidelity and sexual purity often end up with death or suicide by the expected requirement of self-sacrifice. That is, there were usually merely two choices, both ending in misery for women or even young girls at the period: pain in death or suffering in life (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). However, in contrast of the widespread phenomena in early Qing which promoted both martyrdom and fidelity, the idea of fidelity seemed to be more preferable since the mid-Qing due to the expanded acceptance of filiality to husbands parents. Namely, widows were encouraged to fulfil their primary obligation- to serve parents-in-law and to raise the heirs (ibid). Yet, many had chosen to follow their husbands in death after accomplishing their expected duties (ibid). Theiss (2004) argues that womens chastity was often related to the human dignity in terms of being a person. In other words, majority of them found themselves no longer being a person in which they were offended even via slight harassments such as flirtation. As a consequence, numerous women were recorded chastity suicide during Qing. That is, womens self-awareness to the concept of chastity would lead to the path of decease (ibid). Except for the initial desire which was aiming to reveal a womans morality and humanity as a woman (Theiss, 2004; Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003), there were other existing outside factors that have indirectly resulted in womens chastity. On one hand, governmental policies such as encouragement, promotion, and punishment were considered as the principal elements of the flourish of chaste women in Qing Dynasty (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). For example, the penalty for women who commit adultery was way severe than for men (Brown, 1952). On the other hand, social pressure as well as education also impressively affected womens behaviours. In addition, widows might earn particular advantages, social respects and family honour, for instance (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). Apart from the possible causes that Ko and Haboush and Piggott (2003) discussed, Theiss (2004) further extends the range of potential motivations leading to female suicide in Qing. Firstly, familys attitude was crucial. The husbands or family members, especially in-laws, who refused or failed to report and express the outrages such as the issues of sexual harassment on the womens behalf due to two major reasons: family reputation and the threat from offenders, to a large extent led to the desperation of women. As a result, they usually turned to seek death. Furthermore, it is widely believed that fictions and dramas to some extent had driven women into the faith of supernatural revenge. For example, becoming ghosts assured them to have power to return and punish those who had harmed them (ibid). Moreover, by rewarding as chastity martyrs might lead to the damage of harassers family reputation (ibid). Nonetheless, it seems that the idea of womens chastity might have been over-emphasized by historians. Theiss (2004) accentuated that despite Qing Dynastys well-known chastity cult, not every woman was a fan of the female chastity. Plenty of women carried on adulterous affairs for years without the concern of their reputation. Additionally, according to her study, most rape victims including those who suffered extreme violence or gang rapes did not commit suicide (ibid). It is argued that even though some women were willing to stay chaste after their husbands death, the facts of financial problem often brought them back to reality and accept the remarriage. Sommer (2000) points out that the chastity was indeed unaffordable for many widows in Qing. They usually were willing to remarry quickly in the attempt of collecting enough capital to liquidate the debts of her former husband, or even to finance his interment. In other words, a widow might trade herself with the bride-price to her new husband in order to settle outstanding debts before the marriage. However, it is not guaranteed that those widows with property which left by their deceased husband could follow their willingness for being a chaste widow. In fact, they might provoke the envy of in-laws those who wanted to take over the property, and often were forced to take the arranged remarriage. Before the Xinhai Revolution, Chinese women only played a very marginal role (Lu, 1993), due to the reason that, as Raphals (1998) claimed, They were eternally oppressed, powerless, passive, and silent. Yet, influenced by Western cultures and revolutions, a group headed by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Tan Sitong were gradually awakening to the issues of gender equity in the late Qing. They challenged the traditional idea of chastity and yearned to change the roles women played at the time. Their attentions were mainly focused on the campaigns of womens education and the freedom of marriage (Zhou, 2003; Chen, 2001). 2.2 The 20th Century After Xinhai Revolution, the Confucianism was remained popular for a short period under the support of the Northern Warlords. Similar to Qing, the behaviours of chaste women were highly honoured and promoted by the government and society, until the first meaningful womens movement in Chinese history- May Fourth Movement (Chen, 2001; Zhou, 2003). It brought up the new concept of womens chastity, which is under the condition of the true love, and the equality between the sexes (Li, 2006). Influenced by the Sex Revolution at the period in the Western World, intellectuals such as the famous scholars LuXun and HuShi, severely criticized the traditional view of chastity in 3 ways: morality, love, and governmental policies (Chen, 2001). Firstly, LuXun (1918) claimed that it is immoral to demand womens chastity. Fidelity and martyrdom are the malformed moralities that aim to oppress and befool women, he clarified, Women and Men are equalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦morality is meant for both men and women à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦men cannot require women for things they dont even do. Hushi (1918) also pointed out that it is immoral to ask women to obey the chastity while men were allowed to be involved with concubines and prostitutes. Secondly, chastity could not be considered as an existence without love. As HuShi pointed out, chastity was an attitude between husbands and wives; it is willingness rather than a compulsion. Thus, he indicated that for the women who do not love their husband, usually were the victims of arranged marriage, it is not their obligation to follow the fidelity and martyrdom for their un-chaste husbands. In addition, Hushi also questioned womens behaviour of committing suicide after being raped. He argued that they did not break their chastity and dignity because the rape is occurred by force not willingness. As a result, he suggested that the society should not look down on the raped women, and respect the brave performance of those people who married un-virgins or as un-virgins. Thirdly, it was brutal and inappropriate for government to promote chaste women. It is suggested that it is a widows interest to preserve chastity or remarry, others should not intervene (Chen, 2001). The May Forth indeed to a great extent enhanced the progress of womens chastity, however, due to the limitations of Chinese history and society, the New Chastity was merely accepted by several radical intellectuals. Although it seemed that there were minority of women got rid of the traditional chastity, the majority, and even to the entire society were still affected by the traditional chastity. During the era, the New Chastity was barely theoretical rather than particle (Chen, 2001; Li, 2006). Apart from the contributions from the open-minded scholars, globalisation, media, and mass-culture indirectly helped to bring womens chastity to a new level. For example, the widespread of the translated books which were originally written by foreigners such as the Japanese author Akiko Yosano ( 1878 ½Ã… ¾1942) and her work (Chen, 2001). After the May Forth Movement, more attentions were paid on womens liberation. Since the establishment of the Republic China, significant efforts were made by Chinese government in improving womens status. Through legislations, more legal rights in education, marriage, and property were offered for women (Zhou, 2003). The Communist Party of China (CPC) has brought womens status to a new level after their victory in 1949, especially under the Mao regime. Mao promoted the equal rights and personal dignity between sexes, and contributed to 3 important revolutionary changes for women: the Marriage Law of 1950s ensured the freedom of marriage and divorce; the Election Law of PRC of 1953 granted womens right to vote as well as men; and the equality of rights between men and women in terms of possessing or inherit property. It is believed that the by 1958, 16 million Chinese women were able to read, while before 1949, only 10% of women were literates. Furthermore, CPC encouraged women to participate in social production, which women gained more capitals in both economic and social aspects (ibid). It is also worth mentioning that prostitution and concubine have been out of law since the CPC came to power (ibid). Consequently, with the basic conditions, Chinese Womens awakening consciousness began to play as an important role in the post-Mao era (Li, 1994:299). In addition, Zhou (2003) stated that another pre-condition of womens liberation is the financial independence of women, in which they had no longer need to fully rely on their husbands. Peoples Republic of China (PRC) gradually shifted their concentration from the outer effects to the inner effects in the respect of womens liberation. According to Zhou (2003:69), the Fourth World Conference on womens right was hosted by China in 1995. It includes the rights to freedom of thought, conscience religion and belief, and participation on the basis of equality in all eliminate all forms of discrimination against women; promotes womens economic independence; and ensure womens equal access to economic resources, including science and technology, vocational training, information, communication, and markets. Zhou (1989) presents the dilemmatic situation for young women in the area of virginity and premarital sex in China in the late 1980s. Although the traditional views placed a high value on female virginity and deprecate premarital sex, young people now seem to have more opportunities to explore both love and sex, with the introduction of the new idea of romantic love accompanied by the growing social acceptance of close interactions between women and men. According to Zhous research in 1985, which has taken place in China, most of the young men had claimed their expectation of a virgin wife. Moreover, in rural China, nearly all the male and female peasants came to an agreement that in a love relationship, virginity was still considered to be the most valuable treasure for women. Nevertheless, the rate of premarital sexual intercourse was increasing rapidly in the present China in spite of still-existing traditional values. Several reasons can be considered for the further understandin g: social acceptance, education, and the support of young mens parents. It was agreed that most women have experienced the psychological pressures of a great dilemma in the selection between remaining a virgin and satisfying their boyfriends, but increasingly, women surrendered their resistance to the strategically emotional persuasion of their boyfriends (ibid). In terms of extramarital affairs which are popular nowadays in China, Thompson (1984) declared that either mere emotional or sexual involvement with someone other than ones spouse can be counted as extramarital affairs. According to Schwartz and Rutter (1998), all perspectives on gender differences in sexuality were divided into two dichotomized groups: traditional versus feminist. Traditional biosocial theories who reifying the biological distinctions between men and women, attempt to justify mens promiscuous behaviours: by maximizing the partners in order to inseminate the possible largest amount of women, men can somehow show their masculinity; whereas women would maximize their births for the purpose of holding onto the relationship. In opposition of the traditional perspectives, it is asserted by feminist perspectives that sexuality discrepancies between the genders are socially constructed. In this point of view, similar to men, women will tend to maximize their partners if the conditions allow them (ibid). 2.3 Contemporary China In Lis work (2006), she divides the present views of chastity in China into 3 categories: love-ism, utilitarianism, and hedonism. Firstly, love-ism chastity, which was first brought up during the May Forth Movement, means sex with the motivation of love. A research about the reasons of premarital sex, which organised by in 2004, mainly surveyed on the contemporary Chinese youth (age 20-30), in which most of them went to the universities. The result shows that for the women who had premarital sex experiences, 31.1% of them indicated that they did it in order to enhance the love in relationships, while 24.8% and 28.6% for the purposes of curiosity and want to keep their boyfriends respectively. Other 15.5% were claimed to have other reasons. From the research it is obvious that love-ism chastity is the mainstream concept of chastity nowadays in China (Zhou, 2006). Secondly, utilitarianism chastity is usually referred to the sex for benefits, such as the social phenomenon of prostitution and concubine (ibid). Thirdly, in regard of hedonism chastity, sex is often involved with either the physical or the psychological pleasure, or both. In the contemporary society, hedonism chastity is more likely the performance of simply physical pleasure (ibid). A recent study emphasizes that among the 40% of netizens who had experience on cyber love, nearly half of them did it on the purpose of one night stand (Xu, 2005). There are 4 main causes of the 3 categories of chastity. In the first place, the highly promotion of socialist market economy not only has vital contribution on the economy, but also in the area of politics, ideology, and morality. On one way, the commodity economy leads to the arousal of the sense of equality, which challenges the traditional idea of chastity, and women start to chase personal happiness. Therefore the love-ism chastity emerged. On another way, the commodity economy also arisen accompanied with hedonism and mammonism which directly link to the hedonism chastity and utilitarianism chastity (Zhou, 2006). Secondly, the rapid development of technologies, particularly the medical technology, popularizes the ways of contraception, and makes the abortion safer and more convenient. Hence, the concerns about illegitimate child were reduced, and eventually provide advantages for hedonistic sex. Women seemed to be the best beneficiary, which the pregnancy once was one of the most fears to have premarital sex. As a consequence, women can pay more attention on love rather than physical elements, which to some extent promote the formation of love-ism chastity (ibid). Culture aspect is probably one of the most essential factors. Although it seems that the traditional perspectives of chastity had lost its position in present society, however, in rural areas, villages in particular, it is still prevails. Moreover, the modern culture affects the modern youth in the way that they think it is their right and choice to choose their lifestyle such as cohabitation. Additionally, the Western culture such as the idea of sexual freedom and sexual liberation break the mysticism of sexuality, and attempt to achieve the sexual equality. Thus, the viewpoint of sex is changed. For the modern youth, love is not only spiritual and material, but also physical. Sex is certainly a part of love, and it aid to promote love. It is therefore nonsense to limit the sex. More importantly, it is believed by the youth that premarital sex is a positive behaviour in which it is a vital path to know a person and helping to make decisions on selecting the partner for life (ibid). Last but not least, social control gives the green light to the multiplex conceptions of chastity. For example, the Marriage Law forbids the married people cohabitate with others. Nevertheless, it is lack of the specific explanation on penalty and punishment. Laws can be such unfastened about extramarital cohabitation, do not even have to mention about premarital cohabitation and one night stand (ibid). Furthermore, in the present days, people care less about the things which not related to them, especially in the beneficial way. In this case, the shortening of social opinion looses the social psychological stress and reduces the restraint of peoples behaviour. In addition, the morality in China has change notably on the impact of the West (ibid). A relatively recent survey based on 2063 undergraduates in 18 universities in Shanghai, shows their attitudes on premarital cohabitation: 89.5% in total believe that it is understandable if the motivation is love, and it is inappropriate to over concern other peoples issues; while only 9.2% of them think that it is a moral degenerate (Xu and Wang, 2002). Methodology In order to facilitate the research and discover more information on this area, two methodologies were utilised for different purposes. Literature analysis is applied through literature reviews, aiming to find out the significance of the concept of Chinese womens chastity in Qing dynasty, since the era is too remote to be testified. In the meantime, questionnaires were set up in attempt to study the perception of womens virginity and fidelity in contemporary China. Additionally, both literature analysis and questionnaire are included in order to better understand the condition and situation of womens chastity the 20th century, mainly Republican China. The questionnaire is probably one of the most effective means to testify the hypothesis which was mentioned in the introduction, and to find out some other interesting information relevant to the topic but which is not anticipated in the early stages. Regarding to the sample of research, 140 surveys were required in total which divided by genders and generations. On one hand, 70 UNNC undergraduate students, 35 females and 35 males respectively, were selected randomly and selectively, which in the way it can represent as many opinions as possible, and reducing bias with maximum efforts (Strugis, 2008). As the attention of the questionnaire is focused on Modern China, and the university students can be considered as the representative groups of educated Chinese young people, therefore the candidates of the research are all selected among the Chinese students in UNNC. Moreover, the division of male and female represent the outside and inner factors. Apart from the self-conscious of wome n, mens attitude will affect womens understanding of chastity. Hence, it is crucial to include both of the two genders. On another hand, 70 copies of survey for parents, 35 females as well as 35 males, were sent along with the ones meant for students. It is interesting to compare and contrast the ideas on womens virginity and fidelity between the parents and their children, which they are respectively representative for the new generation that surrounded by the global environment, high-level education, widespread mass media, and developed technology; and the older generation who grew up in a period when China was relatively more closed to the outside world, and the progresses of technology and education are limited. Furthermore, the older generation may also be able to demonstrate the view of womens chastity of Republican China. Through the comparison of the two different generations can provide the possible causes that might lead to the different perspectives on womens virginity and fidelity. For the purpose of not making the candidates take too long when filling the questionnaire, the questionnaire is designed with two sections. There are 15 multiple choices and 3 open questions for UNNC girls, and 7 closed questions and 1 open question for UNNC boys. The mothers one is similar to their daughters while the fathers one is similar to their sons. Overall, parents ones contain two extra questions asking their age gap and education level, which seemed unnecessary for the UNNC students since their age gap and education level are confirmed: undergraduate. It is ensured that each survey takes no more than 15 minutes to finish it, without disturbing their study and work. According to Simmons (2008), pilot study is important with its function that it helps to refine the questionnaire. Thus, the initial samples were sent to several friends of mine before the actual distribution of the questionnaires, in order to examine the questionnaires critically with their objective points of view. As a result, some weaknesses of the original questionnaires were found. Such as the unclear instructions and questions, and some other possible option of answers that some candidates may want to choose are left out (ibid). Qualitative method was chosen in the first place, however, with the trial on few random UNNC students which I found on the High-Street, and one of the aunts who works in Canteen, I discovered their unwillingness of answering such sensitive questions, especially to a stranger. As an alternative, I chose questionnaire since it is less awkwardness to answer the questions. In the beginning, I sent the questionnaires to all UNNC undergraduates with the postscript of for Chinese Students only. Nevertheless, I found little response, and within the received questionnaires, most of them skip the sensitive questions such as are you a virgin. In order to maximise the response rate and the facticity, I managed to upload the questionnaires online, in which it is completely anonymous and make it more comfortable and more convenient for the candidates to do the surveys. Yet, there was a misgiving about the people other than UNNC undergraduates might answer the online questionnaires and eventually affect the result. As a consequence, I locked the questionnaires with password, and sent the four addresses of online questionnaires and the password to all UNNC undergraduates via email: UNNC girl, UNNC boy, their mother, and their father respectively. Also, in the email, I required the students not only to enter the relevant website, but also forward the online surveys to their parents. Additionally, the questionnaires for UNNC Undergraduates were written in English, while the ones for their parents were written in both Chinese and English. Findings and Discussions 4.1 Summary of Literature Analysis As what the literature analysis manifested, the demand of womens virginity before marriage and the fidelity after marriage was extremely strict in Qing. Due to the traditional ideology of Confucianism, women were merely one of mens properties in the patriarchal society. The popularized chastity cult played a vital role in Qing by honouring two female virtues: purity (jie), and martyrdom (lie). The former one referred to the sexual purity to one husband and the absolute lifetime fidelity to serve the in-laws; whereas, the latter one was more towards the absolute commitment to jie, which required more self-sacrifice and often end up with death. Numerous women were recorded chastity suicide during Qing. Several major causes of womens chastity will be analysed in the following paragraphs. First of all, womens chastity was significant in terms of human dignity. Majority of them felt failed of being a person after being offended even through slight harassments such as flirtation. Moreover, governmental policies highly promoted the chaste women, and severely punish the considered un-chaste women such as the women accused of adultery. In addition, social pressure and education had a great contribution as well. Finally, widows could obtain particular advantages. Social respects and family honour, for instance. Nonetheless, it is argued that the chaste suicides in Qing might have been over-emphasized. On one hand, there were a large number of women who carried on adulterous affairs without concerning their reputation. On the other hand, most rape victims did not search the path of death during the Qing era. For the women who were willing to become chaste widows after the death of their husband, monetary issues often stopped them from doing so. In order to collect enough money to liquidate the debts of the dead husband, or to finance his interment, a certain number of women accepted the remarriage. In other words, they traded themselves with the bride-price to their new husbands. Additionally, the widows with property which left by their deceased husband might be forced to take the arranged remarriage by the envy in-laws who wanted to take over the property. In the late Qing, a group of open-minded intellectuals who were influenced by the Western culture, had brought up the idea of gender equity, and defied the traditional chastity. Yet, their focuses were mainly on the campaigns of womens education and the freedom of marriage. 4.2 Questionnaire Summary The total valid responses were 79, including 33 female undergraduates, 22 male undergraduates, 13 mothers, and 11 fathers. It is a satisfactory rate of response, which reached 56%. More than half of the

How the divorce impact the children Essay

Divorce has become an everyday part of American society today. This has caused parents and professionals alike to have concern about the effects of divorce on children of all ages. Research in this area is new but is nevertheless helping us to gradually gain a better understanding and appreciation that divorce is difficult for a child of any age. This paper considers the effects of divorce on children ranging in age by summarizing and analyzing existing research. The focus of my paper will be measuring the different aspects of life affected by a child’s experience with divorce. Some of the factors that will be of concern include the subject’s age at the time of the divorce, gender and time passed since the divorce occurred. Mainly, this paper will be trying to prove that divorce can and does affect many aspects of a child’s future. There have been numerous studies and piles of research done on this topic since the beginning of divorce and more so now due to its rising numbers in our society. from the research that I have completed, it appears that a lot of this research is consistent as far as their results go. Divorce has become a major concern for children’s health and development in American society. Parents and professionals are becoming much more interested in the effects of divorce on children. It is definitely known that divorce is a very stressful time for children. Children, adolescents, and teenagers will are likely to experience feelings of anxiety, sadness and anger during and after their experiencing their parents’ divorce. Many of the resources that I have read have stated that parental divorce produced a moderate, long-term negative impact on their mental health as adults. The negative effects of divorce on mental health operated indirectly through higher emotional problems and lowe r levels of school achievement and family economic status. I have found that there have been several theoretical perspectives created, that I have read about, that try to explain some of the effects of divorce and other types of explanations for some of the behaviors. Some of these include the socialization perspective of divorce, interparental conflict, the divorce-stress-adjustment perspective, etc. These theories choose  different ways of looking at how divorce may affect the child experiencing it. One of these that I discussed, as an example was the divorce-stress-adjustment perspective, this views divorce as a very long-term event, beginning with the arguments and other behaviors that occur while the couple lives together and ending long after the legal procedures have been completed. This perspective also goes into the different emotional, behavioral and health issues connected with divorce. Many researchers are looking at divorce as an easy way out or selfishness on the part of the parents. Parents are not thinking about the lifelong and traumatic effects that they might be creating for their children by making the permanent decision to divorce. In most cases, unhappily married parents staying together for the sake of their kids, will be found as beneficial for them. Research has found that children of divorce are more likely to develop mental and emotional disorders later in life. These children are also likelier to start sexual activity earlier, abuse drugs, turn to crime and even as fateful as committing suicide. They additionally will find themselves facing problems in their future intimate relationships as they may not have had the proper model for one through their parents due to their split. These emotional problems may not appear right away that is why they have been given the title of a â€Å"sleeper effect†. Their parents divorce hangs like a cloud over their lives haunting them later on as adults. In researching my objective I do hope to find more precise descriptions on divorce than I presently have knowledge of. I want to develop a much better understanding of what aftermath, if it exists, of divorce may be for a child’s future. I think that I will have excellent results due to the fact that I will be studying numerous studies that have already been completed rather than just one or creating my own new study. My plan was to use more of a qualitative analysis through my research as opposed to a quantitative analysis. This is because I want to have a better sense of social observations that have previously been made. I will base my report on the information that I find by comparing and contrasting these numerous researchers’ collections of work. This is in hopes of finding any of the kinks that I may come across by reading so many different research projects  and then summarizing and putting all of the information together to make my final conclusions. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage or to end marriage with one’s spouse. In looking up grounds for divorce one will find many different variations including but most certainly not limited to, adultery, desertion, physical or mental cruelty, habitual drunkenness, incurable mental illness, conviction of a crime, nonsupport, etc. The statistics for divorce in the 1990’s suggest that around fifty percent of marriages inevitably end in divorce. Given this startling figure, the assumption can be made that many children will experience some effects caused by this life-changing event called divorce. This unsettling realization that is being made through the collections of research being done is that young children of divorced parents are facing various types of psychological challenges due to the environmental conditions and changes associated and brought about by the event of divorce. â€Å"Recently, fami ly researchers have started to perceive marital disruption as a continuous, multistage process that may begin long before families dissolve and extend many years after divorce or separation† (Sun, 697). Children that experience their parents’ divorce will have trouble in the future with numerous social developments in their life such as, school, socialization with peers, intimate relationships, etc. My objective in doing this research is to study children that have experienced their parents’ divorce and find out how this may affect them in the future. I have a particular interest in this topic because my parents were divorced when I was thirteen. This experience was very hard on me and I feel that it still affects me today in certain aspects of my life. I also believe that it may have had a lot to do with molding me into the person that I am today. I would like to research this topic to see what has been found thus far through research so that I can develop a better understanding of my own personal situation and the millions of others in this similar situation. When compared to children of never-divorced families, researchers have agreed that children and adolescents from divorced families show poorer adjustment in numerous aspects of life. After following more than 100 kids whose parents had recently divorced, Judith Wallerstein concluded that the effects of a break in the family unit can be life-long and traumatic for a considerably large enough group of children and adolescents for us to have concern. â€Å"While their parents might feel liberated by getting out of an unhappy marriage, the kids were bereft. In interviews, many expressed a profound pessimism about their future† (Kantrowitz, 48). Adolescents and children also battle with anxiety, and self blame and anger, which then transform into the undercurrent for making bad decisions in their future relationships, and giving up hastily when any new kind of problems present themselves. Part of this struggle is said to be due to â€Å"the loss of the powerful mental image of the intact family inflicts the crucial harm† (Leo, 140). Later as adults, these young people become frightened of failure, commitment, and terrified that they might end up following in their parents footsteps. Such emotional hardships only set the stage for misbehavior and delinquent activity. As marriage has become a more optional and less permanent institution in contemporary America, adolescents are encountering stresses and adaptive challenges that reflect off of their parents’ marital transitions. Such dysfunctional self-concepts, anxiety and trouble adapting socially as discussed earlier have been proven to affect the child’s actions, as well as their mindset. Recent studies have shown that children of divorce are more depressed, aggressive toward parents and teachers, more likely to develop mental and emotional disorders later in life, start sexual activity earlier, have more children out of wedlock, have problems with drug abuse, crime and even have been lead to suicide (Leo, 140). The anxiety battles they face are brought with them most everywhere, including the classroom where numerous problems are being displayed. Additionally, these problems in the classroom may sooner than later appear on the streets and neighborhoods in some form of delinquency or violence. One of the concepts developed to describe an aspect of these problems caused  in children of divorce is the â€Å"sleeper effect†. This term is found in many researchers’ writings to describe the â€Å"deep and long-term emotional problems that arise only when the children enter early adulthood and begin to confront issues of romance and marriage† (Leo, 140). It is because of the â€Å"sleeper effect† that so many children of divorce are later in life finding themselves having different problems with numerous aspects including intimate relationships that they become involved in. Divorce is a difficult thing for a child of any age to be forced to face as their reality. Understanding what may be the necessity of the divorce is never the problem, it is learning how to deal with the consequences of it that they will find themselves facing later on down the road. Parental conflict appears to have a pronounced effect on the coping efforts of children. The intense anxiety and anger between some parents in the early stages of divorce is all too real. It is common behavior for the parents to allow their children to get in the middle of fierce verbal confrontations that may be occurring between them. Criticizing and belittling the other parent in front of the child is another way of placing the child in an unfair position. This, in essence, is leading to putting the pressure on the child to feel as if they must choose between the parents. A less tangible example of parental-conflict is the way in which the two opposite genders relate to one another in the presence of children. Mothers may treat fathers as if they are less important and undeserving of respect, just as the opposite can apply. Any form of parental conflict, no matter to what degree, leads to more confusion and a difficult adjustment period for the children involved. The deterioration in parent-child relationships after divorce is another leading cause in psychological maladjustment for children. â€Å"Recent studies say that it’s not the parents’ marriage or divorce that affects children’s later relationships, but the parent-child bond that is key to children’s success in achieving their own satisfying adult relationships† (Campbell, 16). With any divorce comes a new parenting plan of some kind. A child may experience either shared custody between the two parents or custody by one parent with visitation by the other parent. Variations of these plans can  be included or added at different times in the child’s life depending on special circumstances. More often than not, the mother is awarded custody of the children. The absence of the father on a full time level is detrimental to the healthy development of the children. In the case that the father is awarded custody of the children, the opposite applies as well. â€Å"Some scholars see the two-parent family as the fundamental institution of society–the setting in which adults achieve a sense of meaning, stability, and security and the setting in which children develop into healthy, competent, and productive citizens† (Amato, 1269). Studies have shown that deterioration in custodial parent-child relationships may frequently occur in the first year or two following divorce. The correlation between divorce and a drop in standards of living for female-headed families has been documented in several studies. The association between divorce and financial difficulties in these households may negatively impact children’s adjustment periods. â€Å"Because females have lower-paying jobs and often aren’t able to collect child support, they can’t provide an adequate standard of living for their families† (Henderson, 2). It is a disappointing statement but sadly usually still true today that men commonly are more successful in their occupations than women. Men are usually the ones that bring home more money and women usually win custody battles so a balance has to be found; the resulting decision most commonly being some form of child support. The decrease in income level can contribute to anxiety, frustration, and even embarrassment for children. Listed by age group are some of the more common post-divorce symptoms experienced by children. Preschool children are more likely to blame themselves and to experience nightmares, enuresis, and eating disturbances. Early-school age children suffer with academic problems, withdrawal and depression. Older school age children are more likely to blame one parent for the divorce and feel intense anger at one or both of their parents. Adolescents experience the most intense anger and also exhibit problems with developmental issues of independence and interpersonal relationships. The adjustment period for children experiencing divorce is traumatic. Parental conflict is generally high and tense in the beginning stages, which gives  children a sense of insecurity. Change occurring in the parent-child relationship is almost always prevalent leading children to worry about who will take care of them. Disorganization and inconsistency in parenting styles leave the children in a state of confus ion. Children don’t know what behavior is acceptable at mom’s vs. dad’s place of residence. Due to all these changes, it is reasonable to hypothesize that environmental condition and change associated with the post divorce adjustment period are mediated both by the different experiences that occur and by different responses to these experiences. This investigation was done as a means of proving my hypothesis that I developed before setting out to find my resources. My goal was to explore the different perceptions and experiences had by children of divorce that were stated in numerous different collections of research. This is what makes my research a qualitative study since I have chosen to examine and interpret my observations through the research of many other examiners of this topic. I have done this for the purpose of discovering any underlying meanings and patterns that may exist concerning the effects of divorce on children. As had been stated earlier, around 50% of marriages end in divorce. Divorce rates seem to be constantly rising, numbers closer to 60% have also been reported. â€Å"More than 12 million children younger than 18 years of age have divorced parents, and more than 1 million children younger than 18 years of age will experience divorce this year† (Lebowitz, 695). Even though growing up in divorced families raises the risk certain kinds of psychological, emotional and physical problems, it by no means forces the child into a terrible life. It has been found and recorded that â€Å"75% to 80% of children of divorce are functioning well, with little long-term damage†¦.25% of children from divorced families have serious social, emotional or psychological problems† (Corliss and McLauglin, 40). This study obviously is mainly focused on children ranging in ages from younger school aged to older teenagers and college adults. The one thing that the subjects in this study will have in common is their having been  through their parents’ divorce at some point in their childhood, adolescence or teenage years. Divorce obviously affects both males and females. The two genders have shown that they are affected differently in some cases, though they are for the most part similar. As long as families follow the trend that divorce is setting, more and more children will become the victims of their own parents’ divorce and be left to fend for themselves whether it is physically with unstable custodial parents or mentally without the needed role models and structure in their lives to keep them headed in a more positive direction. Divorce has been shown to adversely affect academic performance, and personal characteristics as far as social skills and self-presentation, it erodes the parent-child relationship and takes away structure and replaces it with a consequence free environment. When you take a child, an adolescent none-the-less at the height of confusion and insecurity and remove boundaries such as parents, rules, and regulations, some sort of trouble is likely to result. It is true that children are our future, so maybe we should be taking this fact into more serious consideration when making the decision to divorce which will more than likely have some kind of negative effect on their future well-being. The easiest recommendation to give to any married couple with children is to remain married for the kids’ sake. â€Å"If a couple can repair their marriage and develop an effective parental alliance, their kids will certainly benefit† (Coontz, 21). Divorce is commonly the easy way out, rather than spending a little extra time working things out, couples selfishly opt to divorce. Usually, their reasons for divorce are nothing more than just not getting along with each other like they used to. Parents have, for some reason, become unwilling to put forth the extra necessary effort towards making their relationship successful. Bibliography: Amato, Paul R. 2000. â€Å"The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children†. Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol. 62 Issue 4, p1269. Henderson, Zorika Petic. 1993. â€Å"Divorce Impoverishes Women and Children†. Human Ecology. Vol. 21, Issue 1 p2. Kirn, Walter. 2000. â€Å"Should You Stay Together for the Kids?† Time. September 25. Lach, Jennifer. 1999. â€Å"The Consequences of Divorce†. American Demographics. Vol 21 Issue 10 p14. Lebowitz, Marcia Lipman. 2001. â€Å"Divorce and the American Teenager†. American Academy of Pediatrics. Richardson, Christina D. and Rosen, Lee A. 1999. â€Å"School-Based Interventions for Children of Divorce†. Professional School Counseling, Vol. 3 Issue 1, p21. Robertson, Ian. 1995. â€Å"Bloody Kids†. British Medical Journal. Vol. 310 Issue 6987 p1143. Royal, Sharon W. and Knoff, Howard M. 1990. â€Å"Children and Divorce†. School Psychology Review. Vol. 19 Issue 2 p253. Studer, Jeannine R. and Allton, Judith A. 1996. â€Å"When Parents Divorce: Assisting Teens Adjust Through a Group Approach†. Guidance and Counseling. Vol. 11 Issue 4, p33. Webster, Pamela; Orbuch, Terri L. and House, James S. 1995. â€Å"Effects of Childhood Family Background on Adult Marital Quality and Perceived Stability†. American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 101 Issue 2, p404.

The Reformation And The Protestant Reformation - 876 Words

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William Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet - 773 Words

The concept of love and marriage were extremely different in Elizabethan England than they are today. In Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare there are many examples of this concept. In this story, two families, the Montagues, and Capulets have been feuding for many generations. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet defied their societal rules and fell in love. This toxic relationship turned out to be the cause of many tragedies, including their own suicides. Romeo and Juliet are so in love, that they are both willing to kill themselves to finally be together. Although many people believe fate is responsible for this tragedy, that is not the case. In Romeo and Juliet, fate is not responsible for the tragedy at the end of the story, but the free will of both Romeo and of Juliet is to blame for the deaths of many characters including their own. 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