Abstract
The aim of the study was to explore experiences of a group of adolescent boys, living in single-mother households, regarding their satisfaction with various aspects of their family life. An interpretive/constructivist paradigm was adopted for describing and interpreting participants The study adopted interpretive/constructivist approach to investigate the subjective well-being of a group of adolescent boys in terms of their satisfaction with their family status, financial resources, social support and living environment of their single-mother family lives.Fifteen adolescent boys (aged 15 to 17 years)living in single-mother households were observed, interviewedindividually and on the collages they compiled and in groups. The study found the adolescent boys reported experiences to be characterized by negative emotionality and display of at-risk behaviour tendencies. The adolescent boys reported dissatisfaction with their family status, financial resources, social support and their family living environment to indicate their generally poor subjective well-beings. The study concludes that since financial insecurity of single-mother households is a major contributor to children’s negative cognitive, emotional and behaviouraloutcomes, their optimaladjustment to life or well-being in single-mother households have to be provided for through public or government financed parental healthcare and support systems. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2017
Highlights
Family status is tending towards single-parent family from the traditional nuclear family with two parents and their children (Popenoe, 1996, Vaaden-Kieman, Lalongo, Pearson, & Kellam, 1995, Wright, 1994)
This study investigated the subjective well-being of a group of adolescent boys who were asked to report on their experiences of living in single-mother households in terms of their satisfaction with various conditions of their family life
The study explored the subjective well-being of some adolescent boys living in single-mother households in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, as revealed in their reported experiences on their assessment of satisfaction with certain aspects of their single-mother family life including satisfaction with their family status, financial resources, social interactions and support and family living environment
Summary
Family status is tending towards single-parent family from the traditional nuclear family with two parents and their children (Popenoe, 1996, Vaaden-Kieman, Lalongo, Pearson, & Kellam, 1995, Wright, 1994). In South Africa a third of families are single-parent households (Naran 2006). An estimated 40% of the 18 million South African children are raised by single mothers (Prince, 2009).This changing family status is a worldwide phenomenon and not peculiar to South Africa. Over 40% of children in the United States of America, who yearly experience the divorce of their parents, live in single-parent households (Tanner, 2002). In most single-parent households fathers are the absent parents (Sylvester, 2010).Mothers who are custodial parents earn less than their male counterparts, yet are forced to shoulder their family economic burdens leading to financial hardship,lowering of socio-economic status and lack of social support for those left in the family units (Acklin, 2008). In almost all cases where the father’s identity is relatively unknown or not known at all,children ( boys), suffer lack of father figure or same-sex role model (MacCallum, & Golombok, 2004)
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