Domain and Problem Space - TheRiddler401/DECO3500-Mental-Wealth GitHub Wiki

The domain that will be focused on in this proposal is the communication between divorced parents and the impact of that on shared offspring’s mental health. For this we will be defining offspring as ages 10-25, which coincides with the definition of ‘young people’.

Around ¾ of all lifetime mental disorders occur in young people(Seko et al., 2014), which strongly suggests that it’s critical time to have an early intervention for mental health. Poor mental health is related to other health and development concerns in young people, “notably lower educational achievements, substance abuse, violence, and poor reproductive and sexual health” (Patel et al., 2007), furthering the importance for better mental health help, support and family situations for young people.

Following the separation of parents in a family there is often a significant breakdown of intra familial communication, especially between the ex-spouses which is to the significant detriment of shared children for several reasons. Levels of communication between divorced parents has been found to be indicative of the success of co-parenting and thus the mental stability of the offspring (Lawrence et al, 2011).

Often ex-spouses refuse to directly communicate for a myriad of reasons which can lead to them using their children as messengers. This can also lead to parents using their children to obtain information from the other party which, according to family law expert The Harris Law Firm, forces “the children again see first-hand the dysfunctional relationship their parents have created” (The Harris Law Firm, 2020).

High levels of communication have found to be positive for the coparenting of the shared offspring however high levels of negative communication such as constant fighting, or indecent communication is harmful. Three main types of communication: positive, negative and neutral. Positive communication is open and allows people to adequately express their emotions and opinions. Negative communication is communication that is deliberately harmful and not constructive- it aims to hurt the other person. Neutral communication is neither positive nor negative but merely informative. If positive communication between ex-spouses isn’t possible, neutral communication is significantly preferable to negative communication. For the sake of reducing damage to the already broken family, there needs to be a way to facilitate positive/ neutral communication.

Therefore, there is a need for a platform to provide a space for non-negative, regular communication to keep young people's lives stable and promote successful co-parenting. This regular communication will focus on both parent to parent communication and parents to offspring communication. It should be noted that interviewing a person on a possibly traumatic topic may have negative impacts on their wellbeing, hence professionals, such as child psychologists and mental health specialists, will be contacted prior to interviews to ensure the wellbeing of interviewees is put above all else. It will be respected that some divorce situations are people avoiding toxic, abusive, or traumatising situations, thus for those situations communication between parents will not be forced. Further, interviews and further research will be discussing recent and not recent divorce situations, opening access up to a wider set of people.