Capacity
Organization
Dear Addressee,
I hereby deliver to you the final research proposal to this independent review.
In accordance with the recently stated terms of reference, this proposal covers all the necessary steps required to allow the start of the research. All the elements have been certified to warrant the research.
The review would like to note that through this research, there will be countless benefits for families undergoing problems mentioned in the research.
The review would like to propose the start date for the research to be moved forwards due to the collaboration with company providing the study participant. In addition further delay may lead to economic disturbances to a research that is already poorly funded.
Introduction
There is no doubt that the effects of divorce on adult children relationships is an expanding field of concern to educators and psychologists in the past few years. Another of the concerns raising the issue of divorce and its effect on adult-child relationships is the increase in psychological disorders, pathologies, and mental illness. Mental disorders such as autism can arise as a result of the absence of a caregiver’s attention. Besides, the rates of teenagers and adults going through depression are on the increase. Secure attachment enables a child to form effective coping strategies to stress, and the lack of such may result in development. The nature of adult relationships is also declining. This can be attributed to poor social skills. Social skills develop when the child is young, a time in which the child learns by modelling the behaviour of the parent hence, poor inter-parental relationships is also a factor influencing adult child relationships. The effect divorce has on a child depends on gender, level of emotional and cognitive development and age. In general, pre-schoolers tend to be more affected, and males are more vulnerable. It is not necessarily parental divorce itself that causes poor adult relationships but rather the pre-existing inter-parental conflicts and the poor parent-child relationship that happen before the divorce. When parents' divorce and remarry it results in a destabilization of the child's relationship with the parents, also the introduction of a step-parent make the child have a difficult time adjusting regardless of whether the step-parent is loving or not.
Goals and objectives
The goals and objectives of this research will be:
Expected benefits
In every research, there are a number of expected benefits. Such predetermined benefits are what will allow the research to be conducted. If the benefits are not many, then there is no need to conduct a research as it will be a waste of resources. By conducting this research, some of the expected benefits include:
The ability to find practical implications for social workers and other professionals who work with stepfamilies, and particularly among the Native American population.
The ability to offers a sense of secure bonding is critical for the well-being of the stepfamily and the children involved in the stepfamily transition.
The ability to find better transition and the relationships between both residential parents and stepparent and the children.
The research will help us come up with a way to establish and strengthen relationships through clinical efforts in attempt to create secure bonding in the initial transition into a stepfamily.
Help come up with ways for social workers to foster parent-child relationship by creating a pattern of healthy, secure relationships.
Come up with interventions and strategies will likely result in greater levels of secure bonding between children and their parents and stepparents, which in turn, will lead to greater chances of having Adult Children of Divorced Parents feel greater levels of secure bonding in their emerging adulthood relationships.
Literature review
Research regarding the effect of childhood attachment on adult bonds in Native American families is scarce. Most of the research conducted on Native Americans focuses on how Native Americans function from a cultural perspective. Other research done in Native Americans focuses on the psychopathologies affecting the family structure. About 4.1 million of the population in the United States is made up of Native Americans according to the year 2000 United States Census (Creasey & Ladd, 2005). Further, the census stated that the word Native American is usually used to denote the Alaska Native as well as Native American Population.
A report conducted by Annie Casey Foundation in 2004 showed that there are cultural specific definitions of family as such different cultures react differently to their family experiences (Bélanger et. al, 2015). While Native Americans have had a long-standing reputation for strong families, they currently encounter a lot of troubles in their families. Some of the challenges that affect attachment faced by Native Americans are; substance and alcohol abuse, child neglect and abuse, gambling and domestic violence. Native Americans have been through a lot of historical trauma. It includes; cultural subjugation laws, land theft and forced relocation. Research conducted shows that this has resulted in family disruption causing increased rates of separation among Native Americans and consequently, poor bonds in adulthood. In a research done by Dr. Maria from Horse Brave Heart, she stated that culture influences the family relationships between parents and children (Creasey & Ladd, 2005).
In the Native American culture, intermarriage is common. About 56% of all marriages involve a spouse from a different ethnic group (Creasey & Ladd, 2005). As a result, the marriage is complicated since the two individuals hold different values according to the different cultures, because of this conflict is likely to arise leading to the formation of poor child attachments to the parents. Even societies where divorce was unheard of such as the Chinese are now changing their ideas and social values especially those relating to marriage. Once thought of as the steadiest social unit worldwide, marriage in China is undergoing modifications. The concern on divorce results from the observation that divorce brings up a myriad of stressors for both parents and children.
A study conducted in 2000 involved an interview of 6 couples that had experienced violence in their marriages (Bélanger et. al, 2015). The couples' ages ranged from individuals of 20 to 60 years. The participants came from different races including Anglo-American, Native America, and African American. In the study, the participants were asked questions such as whether they had experienced childhood violence and the degree to which they perceived their childhood experiences to influence their relationship. All of them said they had experienced violence during their childhood. 5 of the participants were raised by parents who had experienced sexual abuse. Ten had alcoholic fathers and seven alcoholic mothers, yet most of the participants had a drug abuse problem as well. Seven of the participants were not raised by both their biological parents. Some of the attachment issues that emerge from the six couples are powerlessness, uncertainty, role confusion, shame and unworthiness, helplessness and hopelessness, abandonment issues, and many of them lack the ability to alter their circumstances in life.
Child neglect and abuse in Native America families are prevalent. For every 1000 children, about 20 of them experience child neglect or abuse compared to 10 for White children (King, 2007). Alcohol and substance abuse is prevalent among Native American families and is one of the major causes of separation and unhealthy child-parent bonds. Moreover, the boundaries of the nuclear family in Native American families are not clearly defined. In Native American families, aunts and grandparents may be considered as part of the nuclear family (King, 2007). When these third parties come in, they make the family process complicated and affect the parental child attachment.
Methods
This part of the research explains the way data will be collected. Through data collection and analysis, the research will be able to come up with appropriate discussion, conclusion and recommendations on the research topic. In order to fully explore the areas of this research, there will be need for various means of data collection and analysis.
The first method employed will be the use of interviews. Interview refers to a method of data collection where the researcher will be able to ask the interviewee questions directly and record observations on a real time manner (Robson & McCartan, 2016). This form of data collection will be particularly helpful in this research because emotions of the people will be monitored during the process. In addition, this method gives room for little or no bias compared to a questionnaire, because the individual cannot hide his/her feelings. Finally it is will provide in depth information for the research based on the critical observation made by the interviewer, which would not have been noted through other data collection methods.
Questionnaires will be the second method used for collection of data. Questionnaires refer to a means of data collection where questions, which would have been otherwise used in an interview, are sent out to people to fill them. Questionnaires are a preferred choice for people who will be out of reach. They also provide a faster means of data collection because they will be sent out via emails (Robson & McCartan, 2016). In addition, they help reduce the amount of money spent in data collection as opposed to interviews.
In order to use the above methods there research will need a sample of participants to study.
Participants will be received from the Stepfamily Experiences Project (STEP), taken in 2013 by researchers at Brigham Young University. Informed consent will be obtained from the participants and a written document signed. The sample was of adults from age 18-30. They were 1,593 in total. The participants had stayed in a stepfamily at some point between ages 8 to 18. 16% of the participants were black, 64% white, 16% Latino and other 7% were from other racial groups.
The dependent variable of the study was adult bonding while the independent one is childhood attachments. Adult bonding was scaled using a Likert from 1 to represent strongly agree and 7 to represent strongly disagree. Options 1-4 (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Neither Agree or Disagree) were coded as 0 (no), and Options 5-7 (Somewhat Agree, Agree, Strongly Agree) were coded as 1 (yes). The questions were based on the developing adulthood attachments.
The questions of the independent variable, childhood attachments were also graded on a Likert scale with questions ranging from 1=" Strongly Disagree", to 5="Strongly Agree". Questions regarding how involved the participant was in their stepfamily, had options ranging from 1="Never True", to 5=" Always True". The participants were asked to respond to statements about their relationship with their step-parent. These statements were measured on a scale from 1-7. 1= “Rarely, Hardly Ever”, 4= “Sometimes”, and 7= “Very Often, Always”.
Ethics involved in the research
In every study conducted, there are ethical guidelines to be followed. In this study, the participants are to be given an informed consent document to sign. They will also be informed of what the research involves, the benefits and the possible risks involved in the research. Some of the risks involved are that the questions given to the participants may invoke suppressed feelings and emotions. To lessen the harm that may be caused by invoking suppressed feelings, the researcher will ensure that there are counselling psychologists on standby who would assess the psychological state of the participants after the experiment (Beecher, 2006).
The research will also maintain high levels of confidentiality. One of the ways in which this will be implemented is that in the questionnaires participants will not be required to write their names. Participants were also informed that any personal information taken in research will not be disclosed under any circumstances. There will be no deception involved in the research. The researchers will ensure that the methods used cause no to minimal harm to the participants involved. This will be done by being culturally sensitive. The questions on the questionnaires were structured in such a way that they are multicultural.
In addition to the ethics above, the benefits associated with the outcome of the results of this research far outweigh its risks. The research will be of use to educators. Information on attachment bonds and how they affect one's adult relationships is essential to educator's students such as those pursuing psychology, sociology, and other human sciences require the information (Beecher, 2006).
The information obtained from the research will also be of use to psychiatrists and psychologists. As it will be depicted in the outcome, early attachment bonds are crucial in the development of the personality of an individual and therefore can be used to assess for disorders. The information can also be used for community education programs. Community education programs are programs whereby people are educated on some things that affect the society. Educating the people on the importance of early attachment bonds is essential since it enlightens them about parenting styles, personalities among many other things (Beecher, 2006).
Project Management and Plan Outline
This research will involve assessing the effect of divorce and step families on adult relationships in Native American families. The project involves working with other organizations such as the Brigham Young University researchers who came up with the project Stepfamily Experiences Project (STEP). The participants of this research are obtained from the Stepfamily Experiences Project.
Communication during the project will be mainly done via email due to distance and time. When dealing with the participant’s face to face communication will be the preferred technique. However, some of the participants will get their questionnaires via email. Phone calls will also be a major part of the communication process during the research.
The expected majority costs that will be incurred in the course of the project are travel costs and the costs for coming up with the questionnaires. Costs incurred during the research will be self-funded as there is no funding from donors is received.
This research will not be without risks involved. The project poses a risk of stirring emotions of the participants. This risk will be countered by having counselling psychologists on the site who will assess the participants after the experiment and provide any restoration of balance a client may need. Nonetheless, the project may enable participants to develop a higher level of self-awareness.
Finally there will be controlled variables are used to reduce bias in the results. To do this, the research will be conducted on people from different races and ethnicities. They include; Latino, Caucasian, Whites and Native American individuals. The research also used participants of different ages to answer the questionnaires. Both single and married participants were used with most of them being single. A lot of the participants had spent some time with a step parent family.
Research Timetable
Conclusion
After a thorough preliminary literature review and general planning of this research, I believe it should move forward to be conducted. This is because it will offer significant understanding into the result that early attachment patterns have on adult attachment. In addition, we will have in-depth knowledge of childhood attachment and adult attachments in developing adulthood participants. We will also be able to determine whether the older the individuals during stepfamily development, the more difficult for the children to form secure attachments. These offer significant implications for psychologists. Native American participants brought out a view into the need for early intervention for children from stepfamilies during the stage of transition. Psychologists and clinicians ought to help stepfamilies to make for a smoother transition and thus reduce any potential negative impact the transition may have on the children. Native American stepfamilies should participate in interventions that facilitate the focus on children’s emotions which has been shown to create stronger bonds within the family unit. In addition, interventions should be made available even to groups such as the Native Americans since it is essential for their children to develop future meaningful adult relationships. Through the research, we will be able to arrive at all the mentioned solutions.
References
King, V. (2007). When children have two mothers: Relationships with nonresident mothers, stepmothers, and fathers. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1178-1193.
Lin, I. F. (2008). Consequences of parental divorce for adult children’s support of their frail parents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 113-128.
Bélanger, C., Mathieu, C., Dugal, C., & Courchesne, C. (2015). The impact of attachment on intimate partner violence perpetrated by women. Journal of Family
Therapy, 43, 441-453.
Xia, Y. (2000) The Long-Term Effect of divorce on children's psychological development. Psychological development and education. 2:7-13.
Shaw, D. (2000) The effect of divorce on Children's adjustment. New York: Columbia University.
Bowlby, J. (1988) A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. London: Routledge.
Creasey, G., & Ladd, A. (2005). Generalized and specific attachment representations: Unique and interactive roles in predicting conflict behaviors in close relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1026-1038.
Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research. Wiley.
Beecher, H. K. (2006). Ethics and clinical research. New England journal of medicine, 274(24), 1354-1360.
