Thesis (M.Soc.Sc (Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014

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Previous research has consistently demonstrated the “inter-generational transmission of divorce.” In comparison to the patterns seen in families with continuously married parents, young adults who experienced their parents’ divorce during childhood are more likely to consider leaving their own romantic partners, including spouses, when medium to low levels of satisfaction are felt. To contextualize under what circumstances and how young adults may be influenced by their perceptions of these family-of-origin dynamics, the present study explored young women’s narratives about their parents’ romantic relationships and another observable romantic relationship in their environment. These narratives included a general description of the romantic relationships, and queried perceptions of efforts invested by the parents in their relationship. Young women were also asked to clarify their expectations regarding how much effort is appropriate in romantic relationships. Twenty-two young women were interviewed and their narratives were analyzed using Charmaz (2006)’s grounded theory approach. Participants were active agents in the creation of meaning about their parents’ romantic relationship and their parents’ divorce. Their narratives were complex, sometimes paradoxical, and suggested participants understood some of the dynamics in their parents’ romantic relationships. The themes, which emerged from the perceptions of their parents’ romantic relationships, their parents’ mistakes and what they felt they have learned from witnessing their parents’ romantic relationships, provided several avenues of interest for future research and clinical practice. / Graduate / 0621 / 0620 / 0451

This study examined the role of personality variables in the relationship between subjective well-being and loss of relationships through death or parental divorce. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of extraversion, neuroticism, and locus of control as moderating variables between loss of relationship and subjective well-being in college students. Given the prevalence of loss through either death or parental divorce in college students and potential long-term effects on subjective well-being, the current study attempted to further knowledge in this area. Thus, this study aimed to better understand how life events are moderated by personality in influencing an individual’s subjective well-being. This study predicted that individuals who had experienced a loss of relationship would have a lower subjective well-being than individuals who had not experienced a loss of relationship. This hypothesis was not supported by the data which found that individuals who experienced a loss of relationship did not report lower levels of subjective well-being than individuals who had not experienced a loss of relationship. Additionally, it was expected that individuals who reported higher levels of neuroticism and who had an internal locus of control would have a lower subjective well-being. Again, these hypotheses were not supported, and the results indicated that individuals with higher levels of neuroticism also reported higher levels of positive affect and neuroticism was positively correlated with life satisfaction. Furthermore, individuals who reported higher levels of extraversion did not report lower levels of negative affect or life satisfaction. Finally, this study hypothesized that a loss of relationship through death would result in lower levels of subjective well-being. However, the results of this study indicated that individuals with a loss of relationship through death did not report lower levels of subjective well-being when compared to individuals without a loss of relationship through death. The results of this study further the literature on loss of relationship through death and parental divorce and on subjective well-being. This study provides support for the subjective well-being research and provides contrasting findings in regards to personality variables. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also addressed.

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A great deal of the existing literature on parental divorce focuses on the negative influences it has on children and young adults in regards to such areas as their relationships (romantic and familial) and their academic standing. The implications of such research are that parental divorce will always bring harm to families and, consequentially, should be avoided for the sake of the children's wellbeing. What is often missing from this research is a focus on the potential positive outcomes of parental divorce. The intent of this thesis is to explore the effects of parental divorce on young adults' ability to form and maintain romantic relationships, focusing on the positive outcomes of parental divorce on young adults and seeking to answer the question of whether or not young adults can actually benefit from their parents' divorce. By surveying a sample of 233 students from divorced and intact families from a large university on their experiences with parental divorce and/or romantic relationships, in conjunction with face to face interviews, the current study provides a deeper insight into the social factors that help define divorce as positive and explores the effects of family structure, gender of child, economic situation, and pre-existing parental conflict on young adults of divorced parents. Findings suggest that these young adults do experience positive outcomes after the divorce and that these outcomes are dependent on a variety of familial and social factors that shape the divorce experience.

Divorce has long been described as one of the most stressful experiences that any human being can ever experience. The process of divorce implies numerous sudden and highly stressful changes to any individual affected by it, including children. The literature review of the present study revealed valuable insight regarding the effects of divorce, in particular on children. The studies among them which were found to have identified some of the more detrimental implications of divorce for children in particular, included the studies by Jonsson, Njardvik, Olafsdottir and Gretarsson (2000); Eldar-Avidan, Haj-Yahia and Greenbaum (2009); and Yu, Pettit, Lansford, Dodge and Bates (2010). Despite numerous research studies having been done on the phenomena of divorce both in South Africa and globally, it appears that the majority of these studies mostly focused on its detrimental implications for both children and adults. Few of these studies were found to have focused on possible optimal implications or on effective coping with divorce. Some studies that were found to have touched on the potential optimal effects of parental divorce included the studies by Mullis, Mullis, Schwartz, Pease and Shriner (2007); Graff-Reed (N.D.); and Spalding and Pretorius (2001). One particularly influential study that was, however, identified to have been done on the phenomena of coping with parental divorce, was conducted by Roux (2007) who focused specifically on children’s coping with parental divorce. This study focused exclusively on children and involved interviews with children themselves at the time of their parents’ divorce. No research could be identified on how young adults in South Africa had attempted to cope with their parents’ divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. This determination led to an attempt to fill this apparent void in the literature and expand on the study that had been conducted by Roux (2007) by completing the present study. The focus of the present study subsequently fell on how young adults had coped with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years. The aims of the present study were: * To investigate and obtain a clearer understanding of young adults’ coping with divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. * To determine if there were factors that played a role in coping with parental divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to the parents of children undergoing divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to children while undergoing parental divorce. The research questions that were included in the present study for the aforementioned purpose included the following: * How did young adults cope with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years? * Were there factors that played a role in their coping and if so what were the factors? * What would they recommend to the parents of children during and after divorce? * What would they recommend to children during and after parental divorce? Semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with 15 participants in the completion of the present study. Each of these interviews where transcribed and the relevant data were analysed from these transcriptions by firstly reading of the protocols, followed by dividing them into natural meaning units (NMUs), performing linguistic transformation, integrating the NMUs with related themes, synthesising the data and developing a general description before it was finally documented and published. Selection of the participants was made by means of snowball sampling, as young adults nominated acquaintances whom they believed may also be willing to participate in the research (Whitley, 2002). The value of the present study was that it expanded the knowledge base regarding young adults’ coping with parental divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. It also culminated in the creation of a set of recommendations for both children and adults that would promote effective coping among them with parental divorce. It is hoped that these insights and recommendations will enable psychologists, social workers, counsellors, health care practitioners and/or any other individual/s involved with assisting families during divorce, to cope more effectively with this event. It is also hoped that further future research and follow-up studies into this particularly relevant and far reaching phenomenon will continue to be conducted by other researchers both in South Africa and abroad. / PhD (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014