M.A. / The alarming increase of single parent families in South Africa is distressing. The rising divorce rate and the crisis surrounding divorce was the motivation for the researcher to undertake this study. Many children in South Africa are disadvantaged by the high divorce rate and much documented evidence proves the extensive sociological and psychological effects which this has on these children. Research has shown over and again that divorce is observed from a child's perspective as being stressful. (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1974) It has also been shown that many children are adversely affected by divorce. However the extent to which they are affected depends on various elements, such as age of the child, time since divorce, sex of the child and developmental stage of the child, to mention but a few. The goals of this study were formulated in a response to the need for the eventual development of a support program for adolescent girls experiencing the divorce of their parents. The aim of this study was to select a sample of adolescent girls and interview them by means of a semi-structured interview in order to hear their experiences of their parents' divorces. Research has shown that boys from divorced families are affected differently to girls from divorced families and hence the researcher chose to interview only females so as to exclude any extraneous variables. (Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 1989) The reason for choosing the stage of adolescence in particular is due to the fact that it represents a critical period in the establishment of the self-concept, due to all the changes that accompany adolescence. Adolescence is complicated if it is experienced without the security and care of a stable family structure and the support of both parents. The emotional stability of the single parent and their dealing with single parenthood influences the adolescent and his or her self-concept to a large extent. This study was undertaken within the framework of a qualitative study and qualitative methods of data collection were applied. The research design integrated exploratory, descriptive and evaluative methods. The phenomenon of divorce with specific reference to the effects it has on adolescents and aspects pertaining to the phenomena of coping with parental divorce, were identified and discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:9124 |
| Date | 13 August 2012 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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