UWP 101 UC Davis Parental Divorce Exposes Children to Drug Abuse Essay I attached the essay, and two critique letters from my peersand I attached the essay

UWP 101 UC Davis Parental Divorce Exposes Children to Drug Abuse Essay I attached the essay, and two critique letters from my peersand I attached the essay prompt and the critique letters’ guideline please follow the instructions and revise the essay if needed Parental Divorce Exposes Children to Drug Abuse
Drugs and substance abuse are emerging as a serious healthcare concern that affects the
quality of life and results in significant deaths either directly or indirectly in contemporary
society. Word Health Organization reports that 5 % of the world’s total population abuse some
kind of drugs, while more than 3 million people globally die every year out of harmful use of
alcohol. Among this population, the majority are young adults and teenagers. In the United
States, the American Addiction Center reports that the number of people who have died out of
drug and substance abuse has three times increased since1990. Between 1999 and 2017, the
American Addiction Center Reports that more than one million Americans have passed way
because of overdosing some drugs. On average, the American Addiction Center says that 30
Americans die every day out of drug and substance abuse. These statistics reveal that drug and
substance abuse has emerged to be among the major killers in the contemporary world.
Although it is evident that drugs and substance abuse is one of the significant healthcare threats
affecting the current generation, there has been no definite factor understood to be contributing
to this problem. However, sometime last year, I made the most unusual discovery. While
working as a volunteer in Fountain of Hope Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Center, I realized
that more than half of those undergoing treatment in this facility reported in their profiles that
their parents divorced while they were young indicating that there is a relationship between
parental divorce and substance addition among children.
After discovering that the majority of those undergoing rehabilitation in Fountain of
Hope Drug Rehabilitation and Treatment Center had reported that their parents separated while
they were young, it was true that there is a relationship between parental divorce/ separation and
drug abuse. However, to find the truth about this relationship required further research. I,
therefore, analyzed various psychological articles which deal with the impacts of parental
divorce and separation on parents. I also conducted verbal interviews with multiple professionals
such as psychologists and sociologists, to get their point about the issue.
A study conducted by William H. Jeynes titled “Effects of Recent Parental Divorce on
Their Children Consumption of Alcohol” established that adolescents whose parents had recently
separated frequently consumed larger volumes of alcohol, unlike functional families. Jeynes’s
study on firmed my argument that indeed, parental divorce increased the vulnerability of children
to drugs and substance abuse. While this study supports that the separation of parents could
expose teenagers to drugs and substance abuse, the question still existed was what the exact
issues that lead these children to drug and substance abuse after their parents are divorced are?
In the article “Parental Divorce and Initiation of Alcohol Use in Early Adolescence,”
Jackson, Rogers, and Sartor identify that parents’ divorce is one of the childhood encounters that
incases alcohol dependence among teenagers and young adults. According to Jackson et al.,
divorce or parental separation is always a challenging experience for both parents and children.
When parents divorce or separate the entire functioning of family changes. For instance, how
family members use to relate and communicate subsequently change. Children just as their
separated parents have to find new ways to accommodate the change. Jackson et al. claim that
children it is often challenging to understand and adapt to the changing family dynamics hence
resulting in stress. Jackson et al. further argue that divorce among parents triggers different
negative emotions among children. For instance, they say that children are likely to have feelings
of loss. Because these children no longer see their family together as they used to, they develop,
they begin to feel that they have lost something fundamental in their life. Jackson et al. further
claim that these children may build a feeling of anger. They feel overwhelmed but do not know
how to respond. As a result, they become increasingly angry and irritable towards their parents
or even friends. Jackson et al. also argue that children may also develop guilt when parents
divorce. They keep on wondering when why such unfortunate happening befell their family.
Sometimes, these children end up blaming themselves for the problem. According to Jackson et
al., the stress and negative emotions that young people, particularly teenagers, encounter after
parental divorce quickly push them into drug and substance abuse. They argue that since these
children do not know how to cope with the situation resiliently, they promptly resort to drugs and
substance misuse to manage their stress. As they use drugs, they temporarily get relieved of the
painful reality, but they slowly find themselves growing into chronic users.
Berkowitz, Stover further echo the sentiments shared by Jackson et al. In their article
Berkowitz et al. hold that adverse childhood experiences affect adult behaviors, and parental
divorce automatically fits this criterion. Berkowitz et al. maintain that teenagers who live with
their fathers after a divorce are more likely to indulge in drugs and substance abuse than those
who live with their mothers. This is because male parents are more likely to engage in bad
behavior that these teenagers can copy, unlike the mother. Fathers are thrice more likely to drink
in the presence of teenagers compared to mothers (Berkowitz, Stover, and Marans 677).
Although Berkowitz et al. identify that teenagers living with fathers are more likely to get
involved in drugs and substance abuse, unalike those living with their mothers. They also
acknowledge that, generally, adolescents whose parents have separated have higher chances of
abusing drugs. They argue that parental divorcee triggers severe emotional and psychological
impacts on children, which may lead them into drugs and substance abuse later as young adults.
Divorce is not an ordinary experience in nearly all societies. It is an experience associated with
stigma and mockery. Berkowitz at al. argue that children experience a lot of shame when their
parents’ divorce. Sometimes, they get mocked and teased by their friends and peers in school.
These subject these children to severe emotional and psychological load that expose them to
drugs and substances. Berkowitz at al. argue that divorce also leads to critical changes in the life
of children. When parents live together, they can combine resources and amicably provide for
the needs of the children. Most of the time, the situation is different when the parents divorce.
Often, the responsibility of providing for the children remains in the hands of one parent as the
other partner moves to start a new family elsewhere. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the one
parent staying with the children to meet the needs of the children as before amicably. Life begins
to change for these children. As a result, they begin to get stressed and depressed and increasing
their chances of engaging in drugs and substance abuse (678).
In their article Brennan and Torgeir also look into the relationship between parental
divorce and substance abuse among young people. They look into divorce as a factor that creates
a dysfunctional family, which eventually becomes unable to meet the needs of young people and
eventually leads them to drugs and substance abuse. According to Brennan and Torgeir, a family
is the basic functional unit of socialization in society. They argue that the rise of an individual as
a conforming member of the community to a more considerable extent depends on the family,
which is the basic social unit in society (370). Right from birth, the family becomes the first
social learning institution in the life of an individual and therefore plays a significant role in
determining the probability of someone becoming a deviant and nonconforming member of the
society in the future. The first role of the family, according to Brennan and Torgeir, is providing
the basic needs of an individual from the time they are born. By basic need, they refer to food
shelter clothing and also protection? They argue that children get these basic needs in satisfaction
when families are functional. However, dysfunctional families are unable to meet the necessities
required by children adequately. In the events of prenatal divorce, Brennan and Torgeir Argue
that families become dysfunctional. As a result, it becomes challenging for children to receive
the basic needs they require effectively. Because these children do not receive adequate basic
needs in their childhood, they are likely to grow up with personality defects that increase their
chances of being drug abusers. For example, they say that these children are likely to grow up
suffering from low self-esteem simply because they never received the much needed parental
protection and security during their childhood. With low self-esteem as young adults, they are
unable to face the changes they encounter in life with resiliency and readily resort to drugs and
substance abuse (374).
Apart from providing basic needs, Brennan and Torgeir also argue that the familiar has
the critical duty of instilling moral values on children, which helps them live a conforming life
and avoid drugs later in life. They argue that family is the first social learning institution through
which children acquire good or bad values. In a properly functional family, children receive
ethical values that will make them a responsible member of society by learning from their
parents. Brennan and Torgeir Argue argues that parents act as role models to the children, and
they learn to copy what their parents do. He argues that parental divorce exposes children by
interfering with these learning processes. When parents divorce, children will miss one of their
role models in life, this leaves a significant gap that quickly exposes them to drugs and substance
abuse. With one of the parents missing in action, these children turn to learn from their peers,
which quickly exposes them to drugs (378).
Finally, Brennan and Torgeir argue that parenting is a crucial family function that helps
to prevent children from engaging in drugs and substance abuse. In this argument, Brennan and
Torgeir borrow from Albert Bandura’s theory of cognitive learning. They argue that drugs and
substance abuse is a behavior that a child learns through interacting with other members of
society and parenting is very important to help children from this behavior. Brennan and Torgeir
argue that we live in an imperfect society where there are always some deviant. As children grow
up, they are likely to interact with these nonconforming individuals and learn lousy behavior
such as drug abuse. A family is, therefore, important because it helps to shape a child’s behavior
through parenting. They argue that parenting involves rewarding or punishing behavior. When
bad behavior is punished, children learn that it is wrong and drop it entirely, and when ethical
behavior is rewarded, children embrace it. Brennan and Torgeir argue that parenting is very
effective in functional families. However, children from divorced families are more likely to
engage in substance abuse because of various reasons. When parents divorce, children either live
with one parent or sometimes are left in the custody of relatives such as grandparents. It is very
challenging for a single parent to monitor children properly. Single parent finds it completely
difficult to maneuver the employment and also give their best in parenting. They have little time
to concentrate on what their children are doing. As a result, their children keep indulging in
harmful behaviors such as drug abuse without their knowledge.
Drugs and substance abuse are becoming one of the primary healthcare challenges of
contemporary times. Statistics by the World Health Organization and American Addiction
Center reveal that drugs and substance abuse are emerging as significant killers in the current
society. More than 3 million individuals are reportedly dying out of drug related problems every
year. To properly deal with this healthcare problem that is significantly threatening the modern
youth, it is first essential to have a clear understanding of the factors contributing to the increased
cases of drug abuse both nationally and globally. For instance, several studies point out that
parental divorce significantly exposes more teenagers to this problem. Most studies agree that
parental divorce triggers psychological and emotional challenges that make young people more
likely to abuse drugs.
Works Cited
Berkowitz Steven, Stover, Smith, and Marans, Stephens. “The child and family traumatic stress
intervention: Secondary prevention for youth at risk of developing PTSD.” Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 52, no. 6, 2011, pp. 676-685
Brennan, Linda, and Watne, Torgeir. “Behavioral Change Starts in the Family: The Role of
Family Communication and Implications for Social Marketing.” Journal of Nonprofit &
Public Sector Marketing, vol. 23, no. 4, 2011, pp. 367-386
Jackson, Kristina. Rogers, Michelle, and Sartor, Carolyn. Sartor. “Parental Divorce and Initiation
of Alcohol Use in Early Adolescence.” Psychol Addict Behav, vol 30, no. 4, 2016,
pp.450–461.
Jeynes, William. “The Effects of Recent Parental Divorce on Their Children’s Consumption of
Alcohol.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, vol. 30, no. 5, 2005, pp. 305–309
World health organization. Management of substance, May 22, 2018,
abusehttps://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/en/. Accessed May 18, 2020
Investigation Essay Critiques
Dear Hoei,
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Your essay does not seem to include a catalyst. I would imagine that your catalyst would be
personal interest in the subject, but you may want to include that in your essay.
There does not seem to be a larger argument included yet, though it seems like you still have
room to add it in later. The driving questions do not seem very obvious, but if they are included
in your research, they do not seem to be asking very much beyond the subject you are arguing.
Your essay does not seem to have a sense of personal experimentation, though the subject
seems like it would be difficult to perform any experiments yourself. You could share your
personal experiences (such as family or people you know) with the subject if you feel
comfortable, then compare that to the evidence you researched.
Your essay uses many qualified sources, which help to back up your reasoning. I think it may be
effective to include pathos in portions where you talk about children becoming addicted to
drugs. For example, in page 3 you talk about children growing into chronic users, you could use
pathos by talking about a child drug user that was on the news and emotionally charge the
argument. You could improve ethos by giving an example of your own experience in the
argument.
Your use of sources provides effective evidence to support your argument. I was impressed by
the sheer amount of evidence from outside sources throughout the essay.
I do not notice any story significance. Every point made helps to provide more evidence for the
original argument, but there the essay never moves beyond that.
Suggestions:
o You can make your introduction more inviting by adding a reason you are interested in
this topic. Instead of hitting the audience with statistics immediately, maybe start with
something you noticed or found intriguing and then start giving the statistics.
o Your essay could benefit from a personal connection to the subject. As your essay
covers a very difficult topic, it does not have to be your own experience to it, but
somebody else’s, or perhaps you were moved by an interview you saw or a story you
read. Your thoughts on that can be a personal connection.
o Your essay would benefit from tying your topic into a higher-level idea. For example,
“divorce exposes kids to drug abuse, therefore the War on Drugs is focusing on the
wrong issue”, or “divorce exposes kids to drug abuse and the divorce rate is rising and
that is why more people want to legalize marijuana”. Whatever you are able to
substantiate works.
Questions moving forward
o What drove you to pick this topic?
o Why should the reader believe you?
o If the reader agrees with your argument that divorce exposes children to drug abuse,
what should that mean to them?
Jade Lacerda Teodulo
Joseph Horton
UWP 101
2 June 2020
Investigation Essay Critiques
Dear Hoei,
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Your draft contains a lot of good information to work with. Your introductory sentence
grabbed my attention from the start, but it would be nice to strengthen your hook.
We are quickly given a lot of data, which is good because it helps strengthen your ethos.
I would just be careful to not overdo it, otherwise readers will be left with a lot of info,
and not know what to do with it exactly.
I appreciate that you added how you good interested in the topic and your personal
connection to it. That’s important for the readers to understand why you care. From
there, you can also build up your pathos.
Here are some friendly suggestions:
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Paragraph 6: You mention a really interesting bit of information: “teenagers living with
fathers are more likely to get involved in drugs and substance abuse.” There is a lot you
can unpack and argue here. It’s even worth dedicating a whole paragraph to analyze
this. Unfortunately, I was left with no further explanation to why that happens.
I understand that the main claim focuses on the effects of divorce on teenagers, but
later on in the paper you also talk about childhood trauma due to divorce. It would be
more logically organized if you mentioned that in the beginning, and then explained
how disrupting families ties even early on can build up to lead to substance abuse as
teens. It will help a lot if you rearrange the information you already have.
Going back to why this topic matters to you would help improve your conclusion, since
it feels a bit abrupt now.
As sympathetic humans, we should all care about this topic, but it would be nice to have
some argument that connects to a larger essence.
I’m sure you know already, but don’t forget to include your experimentation and scenic
writing
Since you have a lot of good sources, taking it further and analyzing for more
significance. It would be nice to hear more about your own ideas and the meaning you
give to all the great quotes you chose.
Three question moving forward:
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Why are teenagers living with fathers are more likely to get involved in drugs and
substance abuse?
Is there any hope for kids of divorced parents? What can they do for their kids?
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Does the time of divorce affect more/less kids of divorced parents? Younger vs. Older.
You’re almost there! Good luck on our final paper ☺
ESSAY #3: An Investigation
Background and Purpose: Over the quarter, we’ve considered how much of ourselves we
invite into our writing, and how we can make meaning (story, essence, importance, relevance)
from raw materials (situation, place, subject, evidence). In portrait, you were a co-star in the
place you chose to write about, and now in Investigation, you will use yourself as a guide for
research and the accumulation of evidence to answer a pressing question of your choosing.
The information will serve as your driving engine, but your ultimate goal remains the same: by
using driving questions to gain evidence and insight, you will come to an eventual answer that
gives the reader a more complex understanding of the world. One of the challenging aspects of
this essay is deciding what to write about (three recent stude…
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