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East Tennessee State University

The School's Role as a Support System for Children of Parental Divorce.

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>In the year 2000, over one million children were involved in a new divorce. These statistics indicated that this subgroup of children would continue to be a large part of the school population. The school, because of time spent there, becomes a likely place for the recognition and identification of problems that may arise from parental divorce, thus providing an appropriate setting for interventions to be conducted.</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to determine how parents, classroom teachers, and school counselors viewed the role of the school as a support system for children of divorce. The study also explored opinions about intervention and suggestions from divorced parents with children in schools. In this phenomenological study, a guided interview guide was used to interview 20 parents, 20 classroom teachers, and 8 school counselors. Data were collected, analyzed, and arranged into themes.</p> <p>From the findings the researcher concluded that parents, classroom teachers, and school counselors were aware that families of divorce sometimes require school intervention for their child's well being. Parents interviewed indicated that school staff should be informed of a parental divorce, by stating that the classroom teacher and counselor, if needed, should be involved with the child's well being. They also indicated that they believed school counselors were trained to provide divorce intervention, and they gave suggestions for the school to consider when working with children of divorce. Classroom teachers interviewed indicated that intervention should be used for children of divorce in the school setting if needed, that they used some kind of strategy when needed, and that they saw the school counselor as a resource in divorce intervention. School counselors interviewed indicated that it was the counselor's responsibility to assist children of divorce. They stated that they had not had specific training in divorce intervention, and gave examples of divorce intervention techniques used in their home school.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Level thesis:degree_level
Dissertation - unrestricted
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Educational Leadership
Year dc:date.issued
2002

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Cottongim, Constance Myers

Subjects

dc:subject × 8

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • Copyright by the authors.

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/704
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-1861

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
East Tennessee State University
Base URL
dc.etsu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Cottongim, Constance Myers. The School's Role as a Support System for Children of Parental Divorce.. Dissertation - unrestricted thesis, 2002. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/704