The aim of this study was to examine how the experiences of having one or more parents with substance abuse issues is presented in autobiographies written by children to individuals with substance abuse issues. Furthermore, the aim was to examine which coping strategies could be identified. The study was conducted through a thematic analysis of five autobiographies written by children to one or more parents with substance abuse issues. The depiction of the authors experiences as presented in the autobiographies was analyzed with the use of three theories, which were Scheff’s theory regarding shame and pride, Goffman’s theory of stigma and Lazarus and Folkman’s theory of coping strategies. Our study finds that five themes could be identified in the autobiographies. These are: self esteem, violence, protection, betrayal and silence. Moreover different coping strategies used by the authors could be identified. The most common category of coping strategies being emotional focused strategies, including avoidance and using fantasy as a form of coping. Our study also finds that feelings regarding shame and stigma were prevalent in the autobiographies, which were expressed in an array of different ways.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-65023 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Hansen, Astrid, Åstrand, Agnes |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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