Help I am stuck on how to explain why there is a independent variable which is Marital status . i cant figure out how i can explain it. Any help would be highly appreciated

Some have claimed that children of divorced parents are not as well adjusted as children of parents who are married. To test this idea, you set up a study with two groups. One group consists of 100 children who have divorced parents. The other group consists of 100 children who have married parents. Each child in the study is asked to complete the Social Adjustment Scale for Children (SASC). Higher scores on the scale indicate better social adjustment.

1. Does this study contain an independent variable? Why or why not?. YES, the IV is marital status because ...