Is parental separation so bad?

[FreedomPhilosophy]

I think generally the FDR community regard parental separation/divorce as correlated with highly negative outcomes for children. Isn't this an over-simplification of the facts?

 

I bumped into a study recently that said that when economic and parental attachment are taken into consideration, then outcomes for children remain essentially the same. I think the study looked at success in terms of both intellectual development and healthy relational outcomes.

 

That is to say that the ill effects of separation are due to decline in collective family income and break away of emotional bond with the father. However, if after the breakdown the financial situation for the children is good and there is still connection with the biological father (or a quality father figure) then things turn out much the same.

 

What do you say to these study findings?

[FreedomPhilosophy]

Link? What a "good outcome" is compared to a "bad outcome" in these types of studies can be incredibly subjective and render the study meaningless.

 

Normalizing for parental attachment can also distort the data significantly.

 

Income is connected to IQ - so high IQ people tend to do better over time isn't any kind of defense of divorce.

 

Shoot a great athlete in the leg, but he still outruns the morbidly obese guy - STUDY: GUNSHOT WOUNDS DON'T IMPACT YOUR ABILITY TO RUN!

 

A good outcome would be where metrics such as educational achievement and behavioural outcomes are not significantly different between children of separated parents and those who remain together. Some research seems to suggest that outcomes are not significantly different when adverse factors are controlled for, others like the one below seem to suggest that even in the best of circumstances, there will be some smaller adverse effects. Alas, I have been unable to find the article that originally stimulated this post.

 

I found this skeptical study quite interesting, its conclusion along the lines of good separations still have some detrimental effects, but not usually huge. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223936/

 

This overview is also informative https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj24/24-impact-of-family-structure-and-family-change-on-child-outcome-p111-133.html

I think the idea that parental separation is always disaster for children, cannot be supported by the facts, it is an example of catastrophizing. If there is data that parental separation is generally a disaster, I'd like to see it. The consensus of studies is that separation is a disaster in a minority of cases, and is associated with domestic violence and economic hardship. Absent those 2 factors, separation generally has minor adverse outcomes - although still not better!

 

Something I see consistently omitted from consideration is the financial loss to a family from running 2 separate homes, this must be passed on through adverse effects on inheritance eventually as well as of course having less money to spend in the present as well.

 

[FreedomPhilosophy]

So I have been reading one of Warren Farrell's books and I see that separated parents who co-parent well still tends to generate some negative results for a child, even though for the best outcome there are not usually serious consequences.

[Spenc]

I read an article last year, kind of a pop science style article about parenting written by a child psychologist.  He talks about "4 Rs" of parenting through a divorce.

 

Basically, you can mitigate the damage caused by divorce if you use these 4 Rs as cornerstones in your parent-child relationships.

 

Reassurance

Routine

Rituals

_____ (can't remember the 4th off the top of my head)

 

**Upon googling for the topic, I did find a different article that refers to these 3 Rs and only these 3, so it's possibly I am misremembering that a 4th existed**

 

The Rs are intended to give the child the sense of continued devotion and love from the parents and sense of control over his own life, as divorce can put the child in a state of feeling like a balloon in the wind with no control for himself.  I can see how this is less-good than children with good two-parent households who have a more organic experience vs. the 3 Rs which are designed to replicate the organic experience.

 

Similar to a real free market determining prices, vs. what the socialist/keynesians of the 50s theorized about bypassing the economic calculation problem by just copying prices from market economies elsewhere, which Hayek referred to as "play prices" in the vain of it being like kids playing market with monopoly money and thinking they were shopping and holding jobs like mommy and daddy.

 

I would have to give this greater consideration though