This study examined the patterns of contact and involvement between adolescents and their nonresident
fathers after divorce in an ethnically diverse sample. The data was analysed to determine the
role of Lamb, Pleck and Levineâs (1986) three constructs in the involvement of non-resident fathers,
i.e. interaction, availability and responsibility. The results indicated that the majority of male and
female adolescents reported continued direct and indirect contact with their fathers, regardless of
paternal remarriage and the lapse of time since the divorce. In measuring father involvement, the
adolescents reported on four aspects of father involvement i.e. financial contributions, shared
activities, communication and feelings of emotional closeness. The results on father involvement
indicate that most fathers make contributions financially in terms of the payment of maintenance,
school fees and pocket money. Adolescents further reported that they spent most of their time with
their non-resident fathers engaging in leisure activities such as shopping and frequenting restaurants.
Boys reported higher levels of communication and feelings of emotional closeness than girls. Overall,
the study postulates that non-resident fathers play a less significant role in providing parental
guidance to their children. The most important limitation of the research was indicated as the lack of
empirical investigation of mother-child involvement.
This study investigated the influence of non-resident fathersâ involvement in the well-being of their
adolescent children after divorce. Guided by a systemic ecological framework on father involvement
and utilising data from a representative sample of adolescents from intact and divorced families,
father involvement was measured by means of the Hawkins Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI).
Adolescentsâ sense of well-being was measured by means of the Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire (SDQ). The results obtained on the IFI indicate that adolescents from divorced families
perceived their fathers as lacking in support for their mothers and in salient aspects of all three
components of Lamb, Pleck and Levineâs (1986) concept of father involvement, i.e. interaction,
availability and responsibility. Consequently, the adolescents from divorced families obtained lower
scores on reported well-being on the SDQ in terms of externalising behaviours (hyperactivity) and
internalising behaviours (emotional symptoms and pro-social behaviour). Recommendations to
promote increased father involvement were made.
The purpose of this study was to examine the post-divorce attachment security of adolescents to their
mothers and non-resident fathers. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) was used to
compare the attachment security of adolescents from intact homes to those from divorced homes. The
data gathered indicate that adolescents from divorced homes reported statistically significant
differences in attachment security with their fathers overall and specifically in the areas of trust and
communication measured by the IPPA. Therefore, the findings indicate that divorce affects
attachment security negatively. No statistically significant gender differences concerning the
attachment security of male and female adolescents from divorced homes for either mother or father
were found. Two theoretical models (the theory of mattering and the reflective functioning of parents)
are discussed as guidelines to assist policy makers in addressing problems in attachment security for
children from divorced homes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-07232013-110314 |
| Date | 23 July 2013 |
| Creators | de Wit, Estelle |
| Contributors | Prof AE Louw, Prof DA Louw |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-07232013-110314/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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