Components of Adolescents' Lived Experiences after Their Parents' Divorce: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Introduction: Divorce within families has various and often detrimental effects on adolescents, and lack of understanding adolescents' psychosocial experience regarding their parents' divorce is considered an obstacle in employing effective intervention methods. Therefore, the aim of this present study was to investigate and identify the components of adolescents' lived experiences after their parents' divorce in Iran. Methods: This qualitative exploratory study was conducted using Colaizzi's theory in collecting, conducting, and analyzing the data. To this end, 24 adolescents aged 12 to 18 from Yazd city, who had experienced their parents' divorce, were identified through purposive sampling method, and their information was collected through semi-structured interviews in 2022. It is worth mentioning that all data were recorded, and the sampling continued until data saturation was achieved. Results: Analysis of the lived experiences of the participants revealed 9 main thematic units out of a total of 126 meaningful units. Subsequently, through integration and linking of the concepts, 3 main themes of positive emotional experiences (calmness and positive adjustment to divorce), negative emotional experiences (anger, fear, guilt, and helplessness), and negative behavioral experiences (changes in family structure and support networks, and personal problems) were inferred, and their related components and concepts were interpreted separately. Conclusion: After parental divorce, adolescents encounter various positive and negative emotional experiences as well as different negative behavioral experiences. Lack of awareness and timely treatment of these experiences can lead to more severe problems in their mental-social health. . Therefore, it is suggested that therapists interpret life experiences of these people more deeply and provide therapeutic interventions based on the themes obtained from the current research.