The affect that an incarcerated parent has on the well-being of a child’s education interests me. Being that an incarcerated parent has many affects on a child, such as residential instability, economic and behavioral problems. I’m choosing to focus on their education. An incarcerated parent can have both negative and positive affects on a child. I would like to further explore them all. This is a very sensitive topic for me. While doing my research for this assignment, I’ll be able to make a few assessments about my own children. I was recently incarcerated. All I could do was think about the negative affects it played on my children. When in fact, it went both ways, negative and positive. The loss of a parent, whether it be temporary or not can affect the child. It can affect the child physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. All of those can contribute to the way a child performs academically. I just can’t help to think about how this all plays a part on a child’s education. If a child develops physical restraints such as bad headaches due to the stress of losing their parent. They won’t be able to focus in school, because their in so much pain. A child may experience mental issues like (PTSD) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. That can ultimately lead to an emotional problem such as depression. These problems affect the way the child may think and learn. It affects the child’s ability or motivation to wanting to get a proper education. Those factors even lead to the way the child socializes. The child may be withdrawn and unable to interact in class discussions or group activities in school. Then there are children who are affected in a total opposite way. The incarceration of the parent can actually be what inspires them to do the best with their education. The affect of wanting to be the total opposite of what their parent became. A child might even push hard on obtaining their education to become a lawyer, in hopes of defending their parent with legal issues at hand. So many possibilities with this situation raise my interest in doing this study. I don’t exactly know what resources I will be using, other than the internet. I’d like to collaborate the knowledge that I have already on my children. Such as report cards during my incarceration, and the ones I have now since my release.There is a substantial amount of evidence there that would help me to draw my conclusion. I plan to argue that a child’s education is affected when their parent has been incarcerated. Whether it be a positive or negative, its still has its affects. I want to educate others while educating myself about the affects incarceration has on a child’s education. The fact that if a child’s education is tarnished, there could be room for a repetitive cycle of the child becoming incarcerated in their later years. while doing this research I plan to explore all aspects of a incarcerated parent’s child’s education.

http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP08-10-FF.pdf

This is one of the sites that I recently visited. It provides similar studies. They identify the risks particular to the children of incarcerated parents. They use surveys and studies done on the demographic. showing the results of their study, that the children are more likely to face more difficulties overall in life than their counterparts. Listing the barriers and hardships the children face. I can really use the data collected and the statistics shown.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/incarceration&family/ch4.shtml

This site discusses the effects of incarcerated parents on children. contents include: Negative effects on child development, Mechanisms of risk; parental separation, economic hardship, and harsh parenting; change in caregivers, stigma and social isolation, protective factors and research limitations. These are important to my research, they list statistics from studies done from the year of 1986 until 2008. Listing how many children suffer from an absent parent due to incarceration.

http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-22-FF.pdf

This site focuses on the effects of maternal incarceration on children’s behavioral problems. The reports are from 21 caregiver and teacher reports about 9 year old’s behavioral problems. They’ve drawn three conclusions. They all conclude that children with behavioral problems are consistent with an absent mother. This is important to my research because it coincides with my argument that; due to incarcerated parents, a child’s behavioral issues affects their education.

http://www.osborneny.org/images/uploads/printMedia/Initiative%20CIP%20Stats_Fact%20Sheet.pdf

This site is a children of incarcerated parents fact sheet. Its gives another factor, being the relationship between a child and their parent prior to incarceration. It offers the misconception idea that, children of incarcerated parents are more likely to be incarcerated than their peers. I had this assumption, but the site states, “There is no basis for this existing research”. This site is important because it gives other view points that I hadn’t thought to explore prior to writing my research proposal.

The main purpose of this research paper is going to be positive psychology and how people aren’t assisted in achieving their full potential of happiness. This topic seems intriguing because of it’s unique views, not many people have even heard of the concept. Positive psychology revolves around the idea that people are often aided to become basically neutral in life, when they should be guided on becoming happy. Often when individuals are diagnosed with depression they are given medication and therapy to get them to a place where they’re okay with life. Not jumping for joy but not in a dark place like they were, but when this concept is brought into play it makes people think, is that any better? If people are being helped to get out of that bad place and emotional state then why leave them half way? Wouldn’t it be more helpful in helping them achieve happiness? This is why this idea is so interesting. The fact that it is believed that these individuals are being helped by just making them feel OK isn’t a service. Feeling neutral isn’t happiness or content, it’s just getting by. People shouldn’t just get by in life, they should experience happiness and live their life to it’s full extent, actually enjoy it. When people seek medical help for their problems or are recommended to get help, their goal or mission isn’t to be mentally OK, it’s to achieve happiness. This idea of trying to make people happy and not just OK is fascinating especially if you’ve witnessed someone going through depression and also in therapy. It gives you more of an insight on how people are helped to only achieve the bare minimum of happiness. Throughout this research paper, the focus is be on how doctors aren’t putting their all into making their clients happy but more so into just getting them to a “normal” state.

Seligman, Martin, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “Positive Psychology: An Introduction.”Http://onesearch.cuny.edu/. US: American Psychological Association, 1 Mar. 2000. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

The main focus in this article is to prove how building yourself on the in and outside could make you a better person. Whether it’s building knowledge or the way you’re living it makes your life in a whole more positive and how it leads to a better life. Individuals often don’t believe that the simplicities in life such as basic needs can aid someone into being happier. When doing these things can cause happier people and happier lives.

Cohrs, Christopher, Daniel Christie, Mathew White, and Chaitali Das. “Contributions of Positive Psychology to Peace: Toward Global Well-being and Resilience.”Onesearch.cuny.edu. US: American Psychological Association, 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

A lot of people don’t know is that people’s current state of being and mind can disturb peace. Of course it alarms the question of how so, but it can actually cause stir ups in communities. In the article’s abstract it states, “we discuss positive emotions, engagement, meaning, personal well-being, and resilience may impact peace at different levels, ranging from the personal and interpersonal to community, national, and global peace” if people are happier it makes for a happier community. In the end or the bigger picture a happier community makes a happier place. There are also arguments on how experiences could tie into this and how it could eventually help to tackle bigger and more serious issues.

Burne, Jerome. “Lives Destroyed by Happy Pills: As Our Use of Antidepressants DOUBLES in a Decade, Experts Say Thousands Are Being given Dangerous Drugs They Don’t Need.”Http://www.dailymail.co.uk/. 29 June 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

In this article a woman is misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression. It may seem like no big deal until later on in the passage they explain how she was given numerous medications to assuage her symptoms. Not only did they make her feel worst than how she originally felt but she began to have suicidal thoughts. She had tried to explain to her doctor from the start but because of the 2 basic questions she was asked, they just diagnosed her with depression/anxiety and doubled her dose every time she tried to explain that she was only getting worst. They also state, “a busy GP sees about 100 patients a week. Out of those, 20 will be suffering from depression, but he will spot only ten of them and treat five, usually with drugs. Not only are the depressed missing out on treatment, 16 of those 100 patients will be told they are suffering from depression when they aren’t.” Doctors seem to believe that medication will solve any and everything when it could’ve simply been solved another way.

The goal of this paper is to make a reader gain a new perspective on the relationship between sex and an individual’s happiness. When asking about what feelings are related to sex, a person often answers good, or happy. Many wonder why this connection is so often made. This paper will explore this idea through a series of online articles and studies. This level of importance is seen in teenagers and adults lifetime. What is more surprising is the age that people are starting to have sex, as early as 13. But nobody really understands why. It is easy to say that teenagers don’t make the right decisions that they don’t look at the long term situation and only focus on the temporary feelings it may produce. But it is difficult to comprehend why, and that’s what this paper is aimed to do, to help the audience comprehend the why’s.
This topic interest me because teen pregnancy was something I saw a lot in my high school and I always thought why engage in risky sexual behavior that has serious consequences. When asking my 16 year old friend, she answered because she wanted to make her boyfriend happy. This statement left me thinking, does sex really make a person happy? Or is it something else? Why is sex advertised so much now a days? Birth control and free condoms are available for easy access to adolescence. There are so many factors that come along with sex, if a person expects to receive happiness from having sex, you might be let down. So I want to look at all these ideas and see why the feelings are associated. Also I feel like this is the elephant in the room while people think about it, talking about it may sometimes be awkward but definitely necessary.

Dr.Charles. Schmitz, Elizabeth.” Why touch is so important in a loving marriage”. Huffingpost.2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/16/sex-how-important-is-it_n_4275969.html
This article speaks on the relationship between happy couples and sex. The emphasis is put on sex, stating its necessary for a successful and happy couple. The article speaks on why this is, with evidence from a study conducted on happy couples. It explains why affection and touch from another person is essential to a person feeling good. The article is written to highlight sex as something good and necessary to a happy couple.

The topic I chose to do a research about is happiness in adolescents who are struggling with their sexual preferences. Being in a public high school myself I saw that there were many kids who were homo sexual and had a hard time being accepted in such a harsh world. I personally had a friend who struggled all through high school with accepting himself and being worried about losing his friends or about what others thought about him if he was to be public about his sexual preference. I believe that everybody should have an open mind about homosexuals because they are no different from us and have the same feelings we do. This topic will most likely attract the people who already accept homosexuals but I want the people that don’t accept them as of yet to see how this affects people. How can someone be happy if they are hiding who they really are? They aren’t being true to themselves and to others around them. A lot of adolescents commit suicide and its always on the news about another teenager not wanting to live because they aren’t being accepted by the world. I want to know how they can find happiness knowing all the hate thats going on around them and how do they stand up to what they believe in because not many people can do that.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/adolescence/identity-formation

This article talks about the ways adolescents feel pressured about telling others who they really are and how it leads to depression, stress, low self esteem, drug abuse, and even having suicidal thoughts. Also how they have identity problems and not having parents who are accepting who should be the first person to have their back in this situation and it also creates conflict with self and being stereotyped in your teenage years is hard because when in that stage of your life you are still finding who you are and having that holding you back even more can be more difficult for yourself as well.

The main topic of this research paper is going to be positive psychology. This topic seems intriguing because of it’s unique views, not many people have even heard of the concept. Positive psychology revolves around the idea that people are often aided to become basically neutral in life, when they should be assisted on becoming happy. It’s a branch in psychology that focuses on the idea of people and the mentally ill being assisted in becoming happy not just “normal”. Often when individuals are diagnosed with depression they are given medication and therapy to get them to a place where they’re okay with life. Not jumping for joy but not in a dark place like they were, but when this concept is brought into play it makes people think, is that any better? If people are being helped to get out of that bad place and emotional state then why leave them half way? Wouldn’t it be more helpful in helping them achieve happiness? This is why this idea is so interesting. The fact that it is believed that these individuals are being helped by just making them feel OK isn’t a service. Feeling neutral isn’t happiness or content, it’s just getting by. People shouldn’t just get by in life, they should experience happiness and live their life to it’s full extent, actually enjoy it. When people seek medical help for their problems or are recommended to get help, their goal or mission isn’t to be mentally OK, it’s to achieve happiness. This idea was often thought of but not too deeply. It could have crossed the minds of people that there is no point in seeking this assistance if it is not doing what it should be, but because it hasn’t been given much attention it became dismissed. This idea of trying to make people happy and not just OK is fascinating especially if you’ve witnessed someone going through depression and also in therapy. It gives you more of an insight on how people are helped to only achieve the bare minimum of happiness. Throughout this research paper, the focus is be on how doctors aren’t putting their all into making their clients happy but more so into just getting them to a “normal” state.

Proulx, Elise. “Three Insights from the Frontiers of Positive Psychology.”Http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/. 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

This was one of the sites that I came across in which speaks on positive psychology and how it is becoming more commonly thought of. The concept is beginning to get more attention than ever and people are starting to explore it more. They also state where people are starting to give it more importance and how. There are also tips on how and why people should themselves explore positive psychology more and it’s benefits. The idea of dwelling is also brought up and how it can do people a lot of harm without even noticing. Since it is common to think back on negative ideas it isn’t thought about how that could hinder you on your future.

When I first starting to think about what my topic was going to be it was difficult to pick something. I started to think about what do people talk about nowadays that makes them happy or unhappy. Then I thought about how age affects ones happiness. I thought of this because lately a lot of people around me have been complaining about their age and the fear of getting old. These people usually say the same thing “I’m getting old” or “Do I look old?” I’m sure a lot of people my age have heard the famous, “I wish I was your age”. So I researched how age affects happiness and kept reading articles with something in common which is The U-bend of life. The U is supposed to represent the ups and downs one goes through with age. It shows how people start out happy then things go downhill in youth to middle age then when one starts to move towards old age they begin to finally achieve happiness.  After reading this article it made me really think about it because although people do fear getting old can ones age really affect their happiness? This topic really is very interesting to me and I look forward to finding out more about it.

http://www.economist.com/node/17722567

This site above explains the U-bend of life with age. I ran into other articles with the same concept but this one I stayed on more than the others and I felt explained what the U-bend of life actually was.