Author Archives: kaylynspsy105blog

Spotlight Blog #3- Intelligence

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

School is a place that we all must go when we grow up in order to get the education that we need to be successful. Normally there is a fall and spring semester of school, both of which last for around four months. After the fall and spring semesters conclude, there is a two-and-a-half-month-long break. Recently there have been many debates over whether or not students benefit, or are harmed, by summer break. This has led to an investigation of year-round schooling and if it should be implemented into the public education system. There are pros and cons to both types of schooling and people are definitely sharing their opinions.

One article written in “The Edvocate”, by author Michael Lynch, spoke about the pros of year-round schooling for students. “The traditional school year, with roughly three months of vacation days every summer was first implemented when America was an agricultural society” (Lynch 1). Students would spend their summers out on the farm maintaining and harvesting crops (Lynch 1). America has now moved a bit out of farming and there are now many more opportunities for people in terms of livelihood. Since America has moved into the future, he believes that schooling should move forward too. One big factor was that students will be able to remember what they learned, instead of falling victim to forgetting information over the summer and having to play catch-up in the fall. Also, it would be easier to bridge the achievement gap for students with learning disabilities or students who have English as their second language. “Studies have found that disadvantaged students lose about 27 percent more of their learning gains in the summer months than their peers” (Lynch 1). This shows that not only do they get the problem of forgetting over the summer, but it is worse for them on top of that. The last point he made was that students will actually begin to like school. He believes that they will get closer with their teachers due to the extended amount of time they need to spend with them. Also, the students will not feel as detached from the school environment, since they will be there all year. Michael Lynch is credible in my opinion because he has written many articles on this topic, and writes on a website that is education based. He has a doctorate degree which means that he has education on the topic and will be able to provide a look into how it affects students.

Another article that is written on “Everyday Health” provides some more insight into how year-round schooling is good for students. The article did share some of the same points as in “The Edvocate” article; however, there were some more points that they added on. One of these facts includes that parents would need to find child-care for their children for the summer. This will create a financial burden on the family and it is hard to find all daycare for the summer since people like to go on vacations. Also, students would get longer breaks for traditional holidays, two or three weeks, rather than the usual three or four days (Health 10). It would only lack a two-and-a-half-month summer break for students. Also, when school starts back up after summer break, there is a large portion dedicated to reviewing material taught the previous year. With year-round schooling there would not be a need to review as much and students will be able to learn more during their time in school. It will also reduce stress on the students because teachers will not need to shove all of the projects and homework on students in order to meet deadlines. They will be able to spread homework and assignments out better with the additional time they have to teach the material (Health 15). The credibility of this source is fairly high because they talk about the health of people in society, and this article discusses mental health of students. Since they are a website based on health, it makes sense they would talk about school, which is a big source of stress for students, teachers, and parent. Even though there are pros to having year-round schooling, there are also cons that need to be taken into account.

Another article written on “The Edvocate”, again written by Michael Lynch, talked about the cons of year-round schooling. One major factor is that it could result in higher bills for the school system because they will need to pay for year-round air-conditioning/ heat, and other needs. “It may seem like a minor point, but an increase in utility bills for one-quarter of the year really could hurt schools’ bottom lines” (Lynch 2).  That is three additional months that they will need to power the schools, have water running, pay for food, and other aspects of running a school. Another argument presented is that students will not have any downtime to go outside and enjoy the weather. Having that break will be able to provide some aspects of healthy development for younger students (Lycnh 3). The last point mentioned is that it may cause scheduling conflicts for families when planning for child-care. People believe that it would be easier for people to find childcare for an extended break, three months, rather than elongated breaks of two or three weeks. In the summer there are camps and other places that children can go while their parents are at work. There would be a risk of not having these camps and situations occurring during two- or three-week breaks. There would be time, especially in the beginning, where there will not be these available. As stated in the previous article written by Michael Lynch, he is a credible source due to his background in education. He also has written many articles on both topics assessing both sides of the argument. Talking about the pros and cons of year-round schooling makes him more credible since he is not just arguing one side.

Another article based on the cons of year-round schooling is posted on “The Mentor”, and written by Michael Simmons. Simmons brought up the statement that some people may use their summer to work and help their family. Students who have jobs in the summer may be trying to save money to get a car, or they need to help earn money for the family (Simmons 4). This will not only affect students and families but also will affect businesses who rely on students to work over the summer. Places like ice-cream shops and other families looking for babysitters need students to work in the summertime. Also, according to some, summer programs such as camps, or activities are crucial to a student’s health. These programs take students outside and they will get vitamin D and other health benefits. Having this time off from school may reduce anxiety and depression in students by giving them time without as much stress (Simmons 5-7). Simmons is not as credible of a source as Lynch; however, he is a student who would be affected by the change in school schedules. It is interesting to look at a student’s point of view on the topic since normally students do not get a say in the outcome. Normally it is adults who would decide the outcome for the students, and students would need to just accept it. He did bring up very interesting points on the topic of year-round schooling.

I definitely agree with points from both sides of the argument on year-round schooling. In terms of cons of the argument that I agree with, one would be the financial burden placed on schools.  From my personal experience I came from a school district without a ton of money, and having to run for additional months would be a financial burden. They would probably need to cut some programs in order to offset the costs, normally arts programs, which I was very involved, in high school. The music program at my high school was almost cut multiple times, and classes like that are very important to student’s mental health. They provide less stress for most students and give them a creative outlet. Mental health is extremely important and having a break from the stress of their everyday school life is important. For the pros, I really resonate with the fact that there would be a cut back on the review time teachers need to do. I remember spending half of a semester reviewing old Spanish class material and just thinking that there has to be a better way to do it. Students are missing out on learning new material and instead are just relearning old material. Students lose out on learning more material or just learning information more in-depth. I do believe that year-round schooling would be something to consider because it will ultimately lead to a greater amount of information learned for students. I believe that there are more pros to having year-round schooling than cons.

 

Works Cited

“Benefits of All Year Round School.” Everyday Health, Ziff Davis, LLC, 15 Nov. 2017, http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health/benefits-all-year-round-school/.

Lynch, Matthew. “3 Reasons Not to Adopt Year-Round Schooling.” The Edvocate, 27 Oct. 2016, http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-not-to-adopt-year-round-schooling/.

Lynch, Matthew. “Top 3 Reasons the US Should Switch to Year-Round Schooling.” The Edvocate, The Edvocate, 13 Aug. 2016, http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-3-reasons-the-us-should-switch-to-year-round-schooling/.

Simmons, Micheal. “Year Round Education a Bad Idea.” The Mentor, Manhattan High School, 30 Oct. 2017, http://www.mhsmentor.com/8349/opinions/year-round-education-a-bad-idea/.

 

Media Production Project

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

The immense amount of sugar consumed in both the United Kingdom and United States has not only affected people’s physical health, but also their mental health. In the United Kingdom people are consuming two times the recommended amount of sugar. Another issue on the rise is depression, which may become the leading cause of disability by 2030 (Knüppel 1).  There was a study done in London which was aimed at seeing if there is a connection between high sugar intake and depression. The study was published in Scientific Reports, and consisted of non-industrial civil servants from the “Whitehall II Study”. Their initial sample size was 10,308 individuals, whose ages ranged from 35 to 55. Once separated by sexes, the 10,308 individuals consisted of 33.1% of them female, and 66.9% were male (Knüppel 2).

The study was done in eleven phases and they used multiple methods in order to collect data about sugar intake and mental health of the participants. At each phase, the participants had to go through different tests and screenings. Most of the data collected was based off of the people’s self-reports. The types of data collection tools used were questionnaires, diet diaries, and doctor examinations. They also required participants to report on their other habits; such as physical activity, smoking, amount of sleep, and alcohol intake. They also needed to account for diseases, and other physical issues, which may have been present in their participant pool. The researchers were able to account for some lurking variables that may have been present over the course of their study. The researchers needed to try and account for people who may have misreported their data. In order to adjust for this, they omitted data points that would be considered extremely far-fetched. The factors of this study included the amount of sugar consumed per day by the people in the study. In men, the top third of the study consisted of men who consumed above 67 grams of sugar per day, and the bottom third was men who consumed below 39.5 grams per day (Knüppel 3). The results of the study were different than they were expecting because they only found a connection between sugar intake and increased depression risks in males.

The results were that the correlation between sugar consumption and depression were only connected in men. They are unsure as to why the connection was only present in the male population and not the women. This is concerning to men because a man who eats a lot of sugar will be 23% more likely to experience common mental disorders(Knüppel 6). This shows that men need to be careful about the amount of sugar they eat in order to reduce the risk of depression.

Sugar is involved in many of our foods, even foods we would not consider to be high in sugar. Also, it is cheap and easy for people to get a huge soda which is full of sugar. For example, McDonald’s has a one dollar any size promotion on their sodas. This means you can get a small or large soda for the same price. Sugary foods can be found easily on the cheap side; however, there are healthier food and drink options which are often found accompanying a high price tag. This may explain why sugar consumption has increased, because sugar is cheap, and more people can afford sugary foods over vegetables or fruits. One way to help the sugar epidemic is to lower the price of healthier alternatives, and/ or tax sugary products to make them more expensive.

 

 

 

Reflection:

For my summary of the scholarly article I tried to incorporate answers to the five critical questions; however, I did not explicitly say what it answered. For how they operationalized their variables I took from the article the male and female top third and bottom third amounts. Next, when discussing how they selected participants, they chose them from the Whitehall II study which consists of non-industrial civil servants. How they assigned to groups was not available because there was no separation into groups besides sex. They also cannot make causal claims due to the lack of randomization that occurred in the study. I do believe that it was generalized to the right population because it talks about men a lot.

The author of my original pop culture article, Derek Beres, spoke about what is currently being done in politics to reduce the sugar consumption increase. He spoke of a tax being put in place in Britain and how we will not see something similar in the United States due to Donald Trump’s diet. Where he put information on what is being done, I chose to put suggestions on what can be done to help decrease sugar consumption (Beres 8). He also did not go into great detail about how the study was done, he mostly mentioned how many people were in it, and how long the study lasted. Derek Beres did not go into great detail about the study itself and mostly focused on the results. I chose to go into more detail about the study instead of just focusing on the results. I think it is important to show people how they came to the result and the facts behind the study.

Being put in a journalist’s shoes really gives one a new outlook on the career and how much they need to put into an article. The word restraint was very difficult for me because I like to go into detail rather than just getting major points. It is hard to fit a summary to a scientific paper into an around 700-word article, much less make it sound interesting. I was unable to fit in a lot of the scientific jargon; such as p-values and quantitative results. Not only would it make the article exceed my word limit, but the average people would not be able to understand it. Also, scientific words and ideas are not very glamourous or interesting and would make people click off. You really need to pick and choose the information you put into an article. Journalists need to make the science sound interesting so people will click on it and read it. People talk about “click-bait” titles; however, in order to get people to read it, you almost need to have “click-bait”. If you come across an article labeled, “Sugar study done in London shows that sugar is bad for your mental health”, people may roll their eyes because the idea that sugar is bad for you is not new. People are more likely to click on one that says something similar to, “New Study finds that Sugar is Detrimental to a Male’s Mental Health”. It gives a hint of fear and sounds interesting. When critiquing these articles for not having enough information essential to answering the 5 critical questions, it can now be seen how they may be unable to fit it all in. They also need to do research and read the scholarly article which is very difficult to read through and yet we do not often think about that when reading a pop culture article.

Works Cited

Beres, Derek. “New Study Finds Sugar Increases Risk of Depression in Men.” Big Think, Big Think, 5 Oct. 2018, bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/new-study-finds-sugar-increases-risk-of-depression-in-men.

Knüppel, Anika, et al. “Sugar Intake from Sweet Food and Beverages, Common Mental Disorder and Depression: Prospective Findings from the Whitehall II Study.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 27 July 2017, http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-05649-7.

 

Bonus Blog Prompt: Johari Window

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

goat-mouth-open-teeth

The Johari window gave me an outlet to really see how people view me. When I chose six traits I see in myself it was difficult, due to the fact that I do not see many good qualities in myself. For my 6 traits, I chose caring, giving, loving, mature, silly, and friendly. When comparing these six with the traits others had chosen for me, they chose five out of the six. The five they saw in me were caring, giving, loving, mature, and silly. The only one missing from their choices was friendly, which I would say, is wrapped in with the other five that they did choose. Also, there were 19 other traits that were chosen by friends and family that I did not choose in my initial six. What I learned from this process was that there are a lot more positive traits within me than I see in myself. While I may only see six does not mean that there are only five noticeable to others, in fact, there are 24 known to others. Even though there are many positives to this process, there are some issues with it. One example is the fact that you need to put in your name when you submit your responses. Even though you can put anonymous, if everyone else puts their name down, the person may be able to figure out who anonymous is. Also, there are not many options for traits that would be seen as “negative traits”. I believe that “negative” traits are just as important to learn as the “positive ones”. Overall, I really enjoyed this experience and learned that there are many other traits in me than I give myself credit for.

 

https://kevan.org/johari?view=kaylyngordonjw

 

Photo Credit: https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/things-you-didnt-know-about-goats

Spotlight Post 2, Option 3 Drugs

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

goat 3

Most high school students know of the “Drug Abuse Resistance Education” (DARE) program from when they entered high school health class. DARE is an abstinence-based education program, that teaches students how to “Just Say No” to drugs. Some background on the program is that it is taught once a week and lasts for about four months. During the course, they aim to teach students about the effects of drugs, avoiding them, and peer pressure. The program itself is led by police officers who have “completed eighty hours of training consisting of the curriculum of the program, child development, and classroom management skills. The officers are encouraged to demonstrate positive alternatives to harmful situations” (Critical 3). There have been some criticisms to the program, and questions over if the program is effective or not.

Time Magazine author, Jessica Reaves, wrote an article called “Just Say No to DARE”. In this article, she discussed the ineffectiveness of DARE and a couple of studies that were done to prove so. The study she discussed in her article was called “Project DARE: No Effects at 10-Year Follow-Up”. A group of one-thousand ten-year-old children was given a questionnaire about drug use and self-esteem. Then, ten years later, they were given the same questionnaire again. The findings were that the people in the DARE program were no less likely to use illegal drugs, or abuse substances than their peers without the DARE classes. Another study she researched was at the University of Illinois, and this study found that some high school seniors were more likely to use drugs. The author claims that the way that DARE handled their program actually pushed students away.

Another article I looked at was written by a group of women looking at DARE and other youth outreach programs and their effectiveness. A study conducted in Washington showed that there were some good outcomes from the program; however, they were not the objective that the DARE program hoped for. It showed that among students there “was an increase in appreciation for law enforcement authority. It was suggested as a good compliment to stress management, conflict resolution, decision making, and empathy awareness, (lessons already existing in the majority of the nations educational curriculums), and there was an increase in community confidence” (Critical 4). Even though none of these were objectives for the DARE program, it did some good in communities.

My opinion after reading these articles is that abstinence-based learning is not ideal for students. Another example of abstinence teaching is with sex education. Teaching children that the only option is avoiding it, may prove to just make them more interested in a topic. It may cause no change in the number of students engaging in sexual intercourse, or it may increase the amount students having sex. I believe that teaching about the cons of certain behaviors is important; however, students should also be aware of resources available to them. Giving students access to condoms, pregnancy tests, or programs that will help in case they get in trouble, is important. Another idea is to teach them outside of school hours, which would give them a place to go that is away from places with risks. Of course, it is not the same as a during school program; however, an after-school program would be a good use of time. It would not even have to be all teaching all the time, they could incorporate activities or events for students to go to. Overall, I think that abstinence-based teaching is not the best choice for students; however, teaching the cons is important. Giving students the resources to go for safety or for help is also very important.

 

 

Works Cited

Freiheit, Paige, et al. “A Critical Look at the D.A.R.E. Program and Effective Youth Programs.” EDGE, Standford, 26 July 1999, web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/ganginterv/criticallook.htm.

Reaves, Jessica. “Just Say No to DARE.” Time, Time Inc., 15 Feb. 2001, content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,99564,00.html.

Photo Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat

Chapter 10 First Impression Option: 2

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

goat smiling

Facial expressions are a very prominent feature of communication; especially, when we use them to express how we are feeling. We often use facial expressions in our daily conversations, and even if we are alone and smell a bad smell. Sometimes facial expressions can tell you more about how you are feeling than words can. Especially with me, I cannot always place my feelings into words, but my body language can relay information to another party. Since I use facial expressions and body language so frequently I thought I would do well when taking the “Emotional Intelligence Quiz”. This was not the case since I scored just slightly above fifty percent, scoring an 11/20. This shows me that I am not as good at reading other people’s facial expressions and body language. I truthfully thought I would do well on this quiz; however, a fifty-five percent is not close to a passing score in academic standards. I do believe that this test is credible since they do show you a breakdown of what makes the facial expression fit with the emotion they chose. Also, the website is created by the University of Berkeley, California. This leads me to believe that it is credible since it is a University and they probably did a lot of research on this topic. I tended to find emotions like sadness, disgust, or embarrassment similar because they both involved scrunching of faces. I think this test has shown me that I need to work on recognizing emotions better than I do now. I hope to take what I learned from the breakdown they gave after each question to help me figure out other people’s emotions.

 

Photo Credit: https://nypost.com/2018/08/29/goats-prefer-happy-people-who-smile-at-them-study-says/

Chapter 11 First Impression Post

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

Image result for goat

As a college student, I am very used to the feeling of stress, and not always the best at finding ways to alleviate the overwhelming feeling. I cannot say that I have the best stress management strategies and am overall a very large ball of stress. My two biggest ways to alleviate stress are hanging out with my friends and watching Netflix. I really enjoy being able to walk around Park City Mall or Target with my friends because I am able to socialize and get a bit of exercise while enjoying myself. My friends are the main reason why I have not collapsed under stress so far this year because they force me to leave my room and put my books down. Also watching something a tad bit mindless and something that does not take too much brain power relieves a lot of my stress. These tend to work pretty well for me because I am able to reduce the amount of brain power that I need to use. However, I do not believe that I use them as much as I should because still the majority of my time is dedicated to studying until my brain feels numb. This is not a healthy strategy; however, since I have anxiety no amount of studying that I do is enough for my brain to feel calm. I always feel guilty when I am with my friends or am watching Netflix because it is time that I could be studying. I do believe that I would get many benefits from adding in some more stress management strategies and making more time for them. I do see benefits in exercise and believe that I would benefit greatly from incorporating it into my daily life. It will be able to help me work out my stress and get my body a way to relieve the physical stress on my body. Overall, I would benefit greatly from adding some more stress management techniques and making time for them in my life.

 

Picture Credit: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-more-bleating-goats-gone-gourmet-8885k7xnq

Chapter 3 First Impression Option 2: Sleep

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

sg

As a college student in the science major, I have found myself getting a lot less sleep than I used to. I try to lay down around 10 p.m and be off my phone by 10:30; however, it is becoming more and more likely for that time to be pushed back to 11 or 11:30. Being up a bit later on Tuesdays or Thursdays is okay for me because I can sleep in a bit because my first class is not until 12:30. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays however, I have Chemistry at 8 a.m. which I like to be wide awake for. It also does not help that if I am up past a certain time my body just decides it will be unable to fall asleep. Overall, I think that my sleep habits are decently healthy and that I can get enough sleep to function daily. I think sleep is extremely important for college students because you need sleep to promote mental health and give your brain a break. If you are constantly moving and not taking a break for sleeping and rest, it will have effects on your schoolwork and life in general. Most students see sleep as something to do if you have time but will not make time for it and will pull all-nighters. I think giving yourself, at the very least, seven hours a night will help improve mental health, and schoolwork activity. Then your brain can reset and get ready for another day of learning new information.  College is extremely difficult; however, in order to do your best, you need to be able to rest and give your brain time to slow down.

Chapter 3 First Impression Post #1

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

 

Image result for gangster goat

Marijuana is a popular topic in the media; due to, being an illegal substance with some positive benefits in the medical field. People with anxiety, arthritis, seizures, and even cancer can find some benefits in using marijuana. It can calm some symptoms and reduce pain in patients. Since it is being shown as a helpful force in the medical field, people are calling for its legalization for medical purposes. There is some controversy, however, because it is illegal for a reason, and over time may produce other health risks and addiction. Just like opioids, which is another controversial drug, there may be issues with an addiction forming. Also, there are risks with having a job and using marijuana. If you fail a drug test, this may cause job loss or other issues at work. Overall, I believe that medical marijuana should be legalized so long as they use extreme caution when prescribing it to patients. When on the job risks turn up there should be a doctor’s note given to the boss that explains why they may fail a drug test. I do realize that drug tests are not specific in testing for just one type of drug.

Recreational use is a bit more complicated because unlike with medical marijuana they do not remove THC. This can cause hallucinations and other strange things occurring to your mental state, just like with alcohol. However, alcohol is legal and can impair you as well so I can see it as being okay to legalize as well. I think that like alcohol, marijuana can be okay when used in small doses and not letting it get out of hand. Also, I think having regulations on it will help keep it under control a bit more. I think that legalizing it could be a good thing if used responsibly.

Spotlight Blog #1, Option #1 Divorce

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

Image result for Goat family Divorce can be a messy situation; especially, when children are involved, because it will turn their lives upside down. Since divorce is becoming more common, so have the arguments being made on both sides on how it affects a child’s wellbeing. Most people have evidence to support their argument on either side, if it affects the child drastically, or not. There are cases to support both sides; however, you also need to look at the credibility of the sources giving you the information. If not, then you could be caught up with information that is not true or is twisted to make it appeal to their side. Both sides of the coin have reasons to believe whether a child is drastically affected, or not, by their parents getting divorced. Jann Gumbiner is a clinical psychologist, and child of a divorced set of parents, which makes her passionate on the issue of divorce on children’s well-being. Being educated in mental health and being in a child of divorce’s shoes herself makes her a credible source because she had first-hand experience, and has education on mental health. She aligns herself on the side of people who believe divorce is an awful event that happens to the child and will impact them for the rest of their lives. She finds divorce to be selfish on the parent’s part, because they are putting their well-being, over the well-being of their children. In her situation, she did not have a stable family life after her parent’s divorced. Neither of her parents were there to place rules and enforce them. Her father was no longer prominent in her life and her mother became depressed, this caused her to become depressed and rebellious. She became frisky with male teenagers, her grades kept slipping due to lack of motivation, and she began to stop studying. She also believes that it will affect children in the long-term, when they enter into relationships of their own. Her experience with this issue is when she entered her future marriage and knew that she could leave. Due to her parent’s divorce, she has a passion with this issue, and she voices how it affected her throughout her life. Another source that believes that divorce is bad for children’s well-being is Wayne Parker who wrote an article for “VeryWell Family”. Wayne Parker is a certified life coach, and the author of a parenting book called “Power Dads”. He did not have a personal touch with divorce like Jann Gumbiner, and used many outside sources in the form of journals or published books. He discussed the physical, emotional, and educational effects of divorce on children. Parker pulled facts from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior 29 (1985), which spoke about children being 50 percent more likely to develop physical health related issues than in two parent households. When discussing emotional effects he pulled from multiple sources which claimed that children are a lot more likely to develop depression or other mental health issues when their parents are divorced. For educational effects, he pulled from a book which claimed that children of divorce are two times more likely to drop out of high school. Overall, he uses sources, rather than personal experience, to develop a case for parents to stick together for the sake of their children’s health. On the other side of the argument people believe that children are drastically/ negatively affected by divorce. In contrast to the two sources above, Susan Pease Gadoua, believes that sometimes divorce can be better than being in an unhappy marriage. Susan Pease Gadoua is a licensed therapist, and she also is the author/ co-author of multiple books on divorce and marriage. She is a believer that parents who divorce may be doing the best thing for their child in certain situations. Children can sense tension and would be just as easily affected by tension between parents, as they would if the parents become divorced. If the parents fight or show that they are unhappy that will have effects on the child. If you leave and are much happier because of it, you can still raise happy children with bright futures. She also points out the fact that you cannot test whether a child is affected heavily by a divorce, because you cannot put two families in the same situation. Also, there are too many other variables that may be happening in one family, and not in the other family they are being compared to. Every situation and every family are different; however, there are steps parents can take to make a divorce less problematic for the children. In agreement with the author above are Andrew Cherlin and Frank F. Furstenberg Jr. are both professors, and authors of a few books on families. In their article to The Washington Post, they write about how each situation is different for each child and family. Sometimes children in the same families will handle the situation differently because some children are better at handling stress. They also critiqued the book “Second Chances: Men, Women and Children a Decade After Divorce,” by psychologist Judith S. Wallerstein and journalist Sandra Blakeslee” (Cherlin and Furstenberg 1). They talked about how the claims were exaggerated and that the study lacked randomization since the families were referred. The authors make the argument that parents who stayed together in conflict-ridden marriages may cause their children equal, if not more, amounts of pain. Another factor is how the custodial parent acts after the divorce. If the parent is angry or depressed, it will cause the child more pain to see their parent in that situation, and the parent cannot help the child recover. Divorce is becoming a much more common situation than it was in the past, and when children are involved it can make a complicated situation more complicated. People want to make sure that the child can continue to be happy and healthy and some se divorce as ruining their chance at happiness. Although, on the other end, people see divorce as unique to each situation and people will react differently. In my opinion I can see some points on both sides; however, I believe that everyone is different and will handle divorce differently. Communication is a key factor in divorce because the children will not always understand what is going on and will need help to understand. Telling them that it is okay to feel what they are feeling and be willing to listen, can go a long way. Overall, I can see that divorces can happen and that children will not always be worse off; however, staying in an unhappy marriage can cause issues as well.   Works Cited Cherlin, Andrew, and Frank F Furstenberg . “DIVORCE DOESN’T ALWAYS HURT THE KIDS.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 Mar. 1989, http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1989/03/19/divorce-doesnt-always-hurt-the-kids/6432e596-b8d3-45f1-a3f7-0a1029a59240/?utm_term=.c6428bf74291. Gadoua, Susan   Pease. “Divorce Doesn’t Harm Children – Parents Fighting Harms Child.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 15 Nov. 2009, http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/contemplating-divorce/200911/divorce-doesnt-harm-children-parents-fighting-harms-child. Gumbiner, Jann. “Divorce Hurts Children, Even Grown Ones.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 31 Oct. 2011, http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-teenage-mind/201110/divorce-hurts-children-even-grown-ones. Parker, Wayne. “Statistics About Divorce and the Impact It Can Have on Children.” Verywell Family, Verywellfamily, 25 Sept. 2018, http://www.verywellfamily.com/children-of-divorce-in-america-statistics-1270390.  

Chapter 8 First Impression Option 1

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

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Studying is a necessity in college, and you need to find a process that works best for you which I am still trying to figure out. My old study habits included studying the day before an exam and trying to cram it all in. My mind did not take that well and once I came to college and started my science courses, it was clear that needed to change. So far this semester I have not done my best work on exams and it may be that I need to block out more time in advance to start studying. I still am a fan of index cards, and Quizlet, in order to learn vocabulary, it helps them stick in my brain and remember them for a good amount of time if I continuously drill it into my brain. For the first exam, I started studying three days in advance. I studied the material in the notes I took in class, my book notes, and index cards I made for vocabulary and the important people. It worked for me pretty well on this exam; however, I am able to see that I need to begin studying further in advance, rather than cramming it in a couple of days. I will be able to study more of the material and will be more likely to master it before exam day. I will also feel more confident when I am in the test. This is because I suffer from extreme text anxiety that causes me to blank on the material so I will take any boost in confidence I can get.