Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Children of divorced parents--United States--Attitudes; Teenagers--United States--Attitudes; Minority teenagers--United States--Attitudes; Children of divorced parents--Attitudes; Teenagers--Attitudes; United States;
Abstract
Adolescents' perspectives of their parents' divorce were studied to gain an understanding of the impact of parental divorce on adolescents. Subjects from three ethnicities, European-American, Latino-American, and African-American, were recruited by school counselors. Subjects were placed in homogenous groups by ethnicity and two one-and-a-half hour semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Transcripts were evaluated by three independent readers, resulting in the identification of eight themes relating to the impact of parental divorce on subjects. Identified themes were (a) general feelings/thoughts about the idea of divorce, (b) impact of divorce on beliefs/ideas about current or future intimate relationships, ( c) impact of divorce on decision-making regarding future marriage, ( d) role of counseling in dealing with divorce, ( e) ideal conditions for minimizing the negative impact on children, (f) feelings experienced in divorce, (g) impact of divorce on sibling relationships, and (h) impact of divorce on relationships with parental figures. Specific response patterns were identified for each theme. Subjects were likely to consider divorce as a non-dichotomous subject, believing that it is positive or negative based on surrounding circumstances. The impact of divorce on subjects' beliefs/ideas regarding their own intimate relationships was either minimal or negative, specifically, beliefs of distrust and fear. Many subjects reported fear of marrying or stated that they would not marry as a result of their experience with a parental divorce. Aspects of a healthy marriage discussed were communication, commitment, honesty, and amount of time known. Subjects reported counseling as either not helpful or not necessary. Suggestions for parents to minimize the negative impact on children focused on the age of children at the time of divorce, parental behavior, and how best to provide support for children. Subjects associated a wide range of feelings with the divorce, ranging from anger to happiness. Parental divorce was also found to impact subjects' relationships with their siblings. Some subjects reported adopting a caretaking role for their siblings while others stated that their siblings adopted the caretaking role.
Year of Submission
2001
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Educational Administration and Counseling
First Advisor
Roberto Clemente
Second Advisor
Howard Barnes
Third Advisor
Leander Brown
Date Original
2001
Object Description
1 PDF file (51 leaves)
Copyright
©2001 Dana Lynn Holtz
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Holtz, Dana Lynn, "Adolescents’ Perceived Notions About Divorce Across Cultures" (2001). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2954.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2954
Comments
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