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:
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Introduction
Definitions
Data Sources
Biases
Hypothesis
Divorce Rate In Ontario
Mother Teresa Survey Results
Conclusion
(slides 9-30)
Introduction:
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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:
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grade
grade
grade
grade
12’s
11’s
10’s
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…
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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.
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:
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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.
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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:
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Teenagers will have a better relationship with their parents if their parents are together rather
than divorced or separated
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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
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Adolescents will be more likely to fear intimate relationships if their parents are separated or
divorced
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Adolescents will be more likely to like and be more comfortable with the idea of intimate
relationships if their parents are together
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Teens whose parents are together will be more likely to have long term relationships
themselves
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Adolescents whose parents are together will have better grades in school
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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:
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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?
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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?
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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 2.9/5, 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?
Yes
65%
87%
Together
Separate
Divorced
73%
No
13%
Together
35%
Separate
Divorced
27%
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
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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:
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The teen’s relationship with his/her parents
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If he/she participates in extra curricular activities and how many he/she partakes in
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Whether or not he/she fears or is nervous about having a relationship
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How many (if any) serious relationships he/she has been in or will be in
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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:
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General level of happiness
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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.