Educational and Developmental Intervention Services

This study compared and analyzed the language capabilities of 10 school-age children raised in either single parent homes resulting from divorce or in two parent families. More specifically, it compared the context and complexity of oral personal event narratives produced by both groups of children. The study also investigated the usefulness and effect of certain topics on the personal event narratives of children. Five narratives were elicited from each child. Significant group differences were found with respect to linguistic content. Children from divorced homes produced significantly more orientative comments and appendages per T-unit than did their peers from non-divorced homes, whereas the children from non-divorced homes produced significantly more complicating actions per T-unit. No significant group differences were found with respect to the length or complexity of narratives. Each of the five narrative topics was beneficial in eliciting personal event narratives from these children. However, the pet