An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce

Every year thousands of core families disintegrate through divorce, and in the ensuing restructuring of the family system the child has to cope with various development challenges, such as divided membership of two micro family systems and complexities that result at the mesosystemic level. Achieving positive development outcomes in the presence of challenging living circumstances entails complex interactive processes. The aim of the study was to understand the concomitant, reciprocal and/or responsive dynamics of middle adolescents' use of their inherent resilience potential in their movement back and forth between their two reconstituted family systems after the parents' divorce. The study was grounded in the qualitative interpretivist paradigm, and used a multiple case study as research design and a narrative format for description. A purposive sample of four white Afrikaans-speaking middle adolescents participated in the research. Findings revealed that middle adolescents of divorced parents utilise their resilience potential in a systemic manner, which requires a solid base provided by the meso system. Hence the utilisation of resilience relies at the very minimum on a functional relationship of cooperation between the biological parents.

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Main Authors: Ebersohn,Suzette, Bouwer,Cecilia
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Education Association of South Africa (EASA) 2013
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002013000200004
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spelling oai:scielo:S0256-010020130002000042013-06-03An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorceEbersohn,SuzetteBouwer,Cecilia bio-ecological divorce meso system middle adolescent reconstituted family resilience resilience potential utilisation of resilience Every year thousands of core families disintegrate through divorce, and in the ensuing restructuring of the family system the child has to cope with various development challenges, such as divided membership of two micro family systems and complexities that result at the mesosystemic level. Achieving positive development outcomes in the presence of challenging living circumstances entails complex interactive processes. The aim of the study was to understand the concomitant, reciprocal and/or responsive dynamics of middle adolescents' use of their inherent resilience potential in their movement back and forth between their two reconstituted family systems after the parents' divorce. The study was grounded in the qualitative interpretivist paradigm, and used a multiple case study as research design and a narrative format for description. A purposive sample of four white Afrikaans-speaking middle adolescents participated in the research. Findings revealed that middle adolescents of divorced parents utilise their resilience potential in a systemic manner, which requires a solid base provided by the meso system. Hence the utilisation of resilience relies at the very minimum on a functional relationship of cooperation between the biological parents.Education Association of South Africa (EASA)South African Journal of Education v.33 n.2 20132013-01-01journal articletext/htmlhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002013000200004en
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country Sudáfrica
countrycode ZA
component Revista
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databasecode rev-scielo-za
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region África del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author Ebersohn,Suzette
Bouwer,Cecilia
spellingShingle Ebersohn,Suzette
Bouwer,Cecilia
An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
author_facet Ebersohn,Suzette
Bouwer,Cecilia
author_sort Ebersohn,Suzette
title An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
title_short An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
title_full An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
title_fullStr An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
title_full_unstemmed An exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
title_sort exploratory study on the utilisation of resilience by middle adolescents in reconstituted families following divorce
description Every year thousands of core families disintegrate through divorce, and in the ensuing restructuring of the family system the child has to cope with various development challenges, such as divided membership of two micro family systems and complexities that result at the mesosystemic level. Achieving positive development outcomes in the presence of challenging living circumstances entails complex interactive processes. The aim of the study was to understand the concomitant, reciprocal and/or responsive dynamics of middle adolescents' use of their inherent resilience potential in their movement back and forth between their two reconstituted family systems after the parents' divorce. The study was grounded in the qualitative interpretivist paradigm, and used a multiple case study as research design and a narrative format for description. A purposive sample of four white Afrikaans-speaking middle adolescents participated in the research. Findings revealed that middle adolescents of divorced parents utilise their resilience potential in a systemic manner, which requires a solid base provided by the meso system. Hence the utilisation of resilience relies at the very minimum on a functional relationship of cooperation between the biological parents.
publisher Education Association of South Africa (EASA)
publishDate 2013
url http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002013000200004
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