Distance danger for 'divorce' kids

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...6655997%255E27

02,00.html

Distance danger for 'divorce' kids

By Christine Jackman, Social affairs writer

June 26, 2003

CHILDREN whose parents divorce, and who are then separated from one parent
by more than an hour's drive, suffer significant health and emotional
problems.

The finding, in a study released today, challenges a common legal
presumption that what is best for the custodial parent - usually the mother

- is also best for the children of that parent.



It also supports Prime Minister John Howard's recent push for greater access
for divorced fathers, with equally shared custody as the norm, rather than
the exception.



The study by psychologists and legal experts at Arizona State University and
the University of California, Berkeley, is believed to be the first of its
kind to examine the direct effects on children of parental moves after
divorce.

It found evidence that children suffer long-term health, emotional and
financial problems after a non-custodial parent moves away, or when the
children are relocated to a new area by their custodial parent.



The survey of 602 university students who were children of divorced parents
found "moveaways" scored worse on 11 out of 14 separate measures of
wellbeing.

"As compared with divorced families in which neither parent moved, students
from families in which one parent moved . . . felt more hostility in their
interpersonal relations (and) suffered more distress related to their
parents' divorce, perceived their parents less favourably as sources of
emotional support and as role models," the study, published in the Journal
of Family Psychology, found.

The "moveaways" also scored significantly lower when asked to rate their
"general physical health, their general life satisfaction and their personal
and emotional adjustment".

Father-of-two Erik Reurts, 33, said parents had to make sacrifices in their
own lives if they wanted to preserve their children's wellbeing after
divorce. That might mean missing out on a good job opportunity or refusing
to move for a new relationship.

After his divorce, the Danish-born telecommunications engineer won joint
custody of Casey, now 4, and Samuel, 2. But he has been unable to find a job
near his western Sydney home with the flexibility to allow him to continue
caring for the children, who spend alternate weeks with each parent.

He applauded the Prime Minister's push for rebuttable joint custody.

"Children should not have to choose between parents," Mr Reurts said.

"I believe I have a lot of qualities and skills that children will benefit
from throughout their lives. But it's also in their interests to see their
mother, and it would not be fair for them to (have to choose)."


--
"The true value of democracy is to serve as a sanitary precaution protecting
us against the abuse of power...In its present form ..It has ceased to be a
safeguard of personal liberty, a restraint from abuse of government
power..It has on the contrary, become the main cause of a progressive and
accelerating increase in the power and weight of the administrative
machine."
Friedrich A. Hayek

I wondered about the claim regarding health....

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...6655997%255E27

02,00.html

Distance danger for 'divorce' kids

By Christine Jackman, Social affairs writer

June 26, 2003

CHILDREN whose parents divorce, and who are then separated from one parent
by more than an hour's drive, suffer significant health and emotional
problems.

The finding, in a study released today, challenges a common legal
presumption that what is best for the custodial parent - usually the mother

- is also best for the children of that parent.



It also supports Prime Minister John Howard's recent push for greater access
for divorced fathers, with equally shared custody as the norm, rather than
the exception.



The study by psychologists and legal experts at Arizona State University and
the University of California, Berkeley, is believed to be the first of its
kind to examine the direct effects on children of parental moves after
divorce.

It found evidence that children suffer long-term health, emotional and
financial problems after a non-custodial parent moves away, or when the
children are relocated to a new area by their custodial parent.



The survey of 602 university students who were children of divorced parents
found "moveaways" scored worse on 11 out of 14 separate measures of
wellbeing.

"As compared with divorced families in which neither parent moved, students
from families in which one parent moved . . . felt more hostility in their
interpersonal relations (and) suffered more distress related to their
parents' divorce, perceived their parents less favourably as sources of
emotional support and as role models," the study, published in the Journal
of Family Psychology, found.

The "moveaways" also

until I read:

************************************************** ************************
************
scored significantly lower when asked to rate their
"general physical health, their general life satisfaction and their personal
and emotional adjustment".
************************************************** ************************
************

In at least the health area, the lower score is based on how the children
themselves PERCIEVE the quality.

Until I read that part, I saw just another study which happened to arrive at
the correct conclusion, but got there by accident. The first sentence of the
article: "CHILDREN whose parents divorce, and who are then separated from one
parent by more than an hour's drive, suffer significant health and emotional
problems", puts a crackpot face on the whole article, making it much less
likely that the unindoctrinated reader will give it any credit. I have to
wonder if it was given that slant intentionally by a woman who didn't have her
heart in her assignment?

Mel Gamble

Father-of-two Erik Reurts, 33, said parents had to make sacrifices in their
own lives if they wanted to preserve their children's wellbeing after
divorce. That might mean missing out on a good job opportunity or refusing
to move for a new relationship.

After his divorce, the Danish-born telecommunications engineer won joint
custody of Casey, now 4, and Samuel, 2. But he has been unable to find a job
near his western Sydney home with the flexibility to allow him to continue
caring for the children, who spend alternate weeks with each parent.

He applauded the Prime Minister's push for rebuttable joint custody.

"Children should not have to choose between parents," Mr Reurts said.

"I believe I have a lot of qualities and skills that children will benefit
from throughout their lives. But it's also in their interests to see their
mother, and it would not be fair for them to (have to choose)."


--
"The true value of democracy is to serve as a sanitary precaution protecting
us against the abuse of power...In its present form ..It has ceased to be a
safeguard of personal liberty, a restraint from abuse of government
power..It has on the contrary, become the main cause of a progressive and
accelerating increase in the power and weight of the administrative
machine."
Friedrich A. Hayek