Does the Marital Status of Parents Affect Their Kids? By: Victoria Timpano, Cassandra Silva, Brandon Seymour & Derek Urban Mother Teresa High School

Table Of Contents: Introduction Definitions Data Sources Biases Hypothesis Divorce Rate In Ontario Mother Teresa Survey Results (slides 9-30) Conclusion

Introduction: Over the course of the past decade, the divorce rate in Canada has been steadily increasing. For example, in 1999, the divorce rate in Ontario was 36.8%. Half a decade later, in 2004, the divorce rate went up 3.3% to 40.1%. We have surveyed a total of 160 students in our school: 40 grade 12’s 40 grade 11’s 40 grade 10’s 40 grade 9’s In each grade, 50% of the students were male and 50% of the students were female. We took the data that we collected from the student body and compared it to data we found from other sources. We want to know how teens are affected by their parents’ relationship. We asked… How the students felt about their parents’ relationship About the students’ relationship with their parents and their own relationships (both friendly and romantic) The students’ average grade from the previous year About their extra curricular activities And we also asked each student whether or not he/she considers him/her self a happy person. After viewing this presentation, you will know whether or not there is a correlation between teens and their parents’ relationship. We need to change the numbers on this one!

Definitions: Marital Status: The condition of being married or unmarried "marital status." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 21 Nov. 2008. Divorce: a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, esp. one that releases the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations. "divorced." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 21 Nov. 2008. Separation: Cessation of conjugal cohabitation [the termination of living together] , as by mutual consent. Romantic/intimate Relationship: Any relationship where those involved are considered a couple. (boyfriend, girlfriend). Social Relationship: Any relationship between friends or peers.

Data Sources: Data collected in Mother Teresa High School: The members of this group created and handed out a survey to 160 students in the student body of MT. Grades 9 through 12 were surveyed. Four random classes were selected from each grade and ten students (five girls and five boys) were chosen in each of those classes. The girl to boy ratio is 50:50.   Statistics Canada: the majority of the data used in this project was data collected at MT, but some information and opinions were found in various areas of the StatsCan website. Data on the divorce rate in Canada was taken from Statistics Canada, CANSIM (Canadian Socio-economic Information and Management), and some opinions on the effects of family structure on children were taken from an article in Statistics Canada — Catalogue No. 11-008, by Cara Williams. Some opinions on income of families affecting children were taken from a research paper, also from Statistics Canada, Catalogue No.281, by Shelley Phipps and Lynn Lethbridge.

Biases Though we stressed the fact that our surveys were anonymous, many students who took the survey filled them out with friends and shared their answers. Since this is a serious topic, some of the students may not have had the maturity to answer the questions honestly, nor may they have known their exact feelings on this topic. We only received two reports of a marital status different than “Together,” “Divorced,” and “Separated.” Since there would be no point in giving two data points their own category, these cases were included in the “Separated” group. Our survey is also limited since it was taken at only one High School. In order to achieve more accurate results, it would be beneficial to collect surveys from many other schools across Ontario or even across Canada.

Hypothesis Our main hypothesis is that adolescents will, in fact, be affected by the marital status of their parents. We think that: Teenagers will have a better relationship with their parents if their parents are together rather than divorced or separated Teens are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities when their parents are together since a dual income family will have more money to put towards activities Adolescents will be more likely to fear intimate relationships if their parents are separated or divorced Adolescents will be more likely to like and be more comfortable with the idea of intimate relationships if their parents are together Teens whose parents are together will be more likely to have long term relationships themselves Adolescents whose parents are together will have better grades in school Teenagers whose parents are together will be less likely to be depressed and will consider themselves genuinely happy more often than those whose parents are apart

Divorce Rate in Ontario Over the Last Few Years… This graph shows the divorce rate in Ontario from the years 1999 to 2006. There is a steady incline in the percent of people getting divorced. The r^2 value is very close to 1(the value a perfect model would achieve), so the trend represented in this graph is quite accurate, meaning that it is possible to make relatively accurate predictions for future values.

MT Results: 65.5% of students polled have parents that are together. 34.5% of students polled have parents that are not together. 25% of students polled have parents that are divorced. 9.37% of students polled have parents that are separated.

How Do You Think Your Parents’ Relationship Affects You?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? 56% of teens whose parents are together think that their parents’ relationship affects them positively 2% of adolescents whose parents are divorced and 13% of adolescents whose parents are separated think their parents’ relationship affects them positively. Opposite to that, 48% of teenagers with divorced parents and 40% of teens with separated parents think that their parents’ relationship affects them negatively Only 5% of teens whose parents are together feel like their parents set a negative example. This last graph strongly supports our hypothesis that the marital status of an adolescent’s parents affects him/her in either a positive or negative way, positive if parents are together, and negative if parents are no longer a couple.

How Do You Feel About Your Relationship With Your Parents? Students were asked to rate how they felt about the relationship they have with their parents. The scale was between 1 (meaning awful) and 5 (meaning great). The average answer from the students whose parents are together was about 3.8/5.

The average answer for students whose parents are divorced was about 2 The average answer for students whose parents are divorced was about 2.9/5, which is quite different than the answer from the “together” group since the scale is so small. This follows our hypothesis because we predicted that adolescents would have a better relationship with their parents if they were both together.

Do You Participate in Extracurricular Activities?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? The previous pie charts show that when parents are together, a teen is 22% more likely to participate in at least one extracurricular activity than a teen whose parents are divorced, and 14% more likely to participate than someone whose parents are separated. This supports our hypothesis because we deduced that a single parent would indeed have a lower income, making it harder for him/her to afford to enroll his/her children in activities.

How Many Extracurricular Activities Do You Participate In?

Does this Support Our Hypothesis? The mean number of extracurricular activities practiced for students whose parents are together is 2.1, separated is 1.67 and the mean for students’ parents that are divorced is 1.42. This proves our hypothesis once again. Not only are teens from whole families more likely to participate in extracurricular activities, they are more likely to participate in more than one.

Do You Consider Yourself a Genuinely Happy Person?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? This graph does not show a correlation between level of happiness among teenagers and the marital status of their parents. Each percentage is quite similar. The students whose parents are separated and divorced are just as happy as those whose parents are together.

Does Being In a Relationship Scare You?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? Since teens whose parents are together were eleven percent less likely to fear relationships than teens whose parents are divorced, a correlation between the marital status of parents and the teen’s views on relationships is displayed. This agrees with our hypothesis.

Have You Been In a Serious Relationship?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? The number of teens who have been at least one serious relationship was quite close for both adolescents whose parents are together and whose parents are divorced or separated. Though it seems to, we are not certain that this data disproves our hypothesis.

How Do You Feel Towards Intimate Relationships?

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? The percentages are quite similar on this graph so it leads us to believe that the marital status of parents does not have much of an effect on how kids feel about intimate relationships. This seemingly disproves our hypothesis, but again, there may be outward factors affecting the outcome of the answers that were received in the surveys. We are not entirely convinced that this data proves us wrong.

Does Parental Marital Status Affect What Grades Teens Get?

For a closer look at the mean averages, the next three graphs display the averages of the students in a percentile plot. Each marital status is separated so that the data is simple to read.

Does This Support Our Hypothesis? The mean average for students whose parents are together is about 81% The mean average for students whose parents are separated is 76% The mean average for students whose parents are divorced is 72%. This data proves that the marital status of parents does have an effect on what grades their teenager will be able to achieve.

Conclusion Adolescents and children alike are bound to be affected by the big changes in their lives, especially when those changes include a separation or divorce between their parents. Each teen may be affected on a different level, but the marital status of his/her parent will no doubt have an impact on his/her life. Through our survey, we have discovered that the marital status of a teenager’s parents will most likely affect: o       The teen’s relationship with his/her parents o       If he/she participates in extra curricular activities and how many he/she partakes in o       Whether or not he/she fears or is nervous about having a relationship o       How many (if any) serious relationships he/she has been in or will be in o       His/her average grade at school. We discovered that there seems to be no relationship between the marital status of a teen’s parents and his/her: o       General level of happiness o       General feelings about intimate relationships. Again, our information is based on a sample survey of 160 students from one high school, so it is not the be all and end all of this topic. Further research on whether or not a teenager is affected by the marital status of his/her parents will take place, and any remaining questions will eventually be answered. We hope that this report has been both interesting and informative for adolescents and parents alike.