Exploring children's coping with divorce: a phenomenological perspective

English: The effect of divorce on children has, since the 1970s, received much attention in the literature. Factors that influence children’s coping within this context have also been widely investigated and reported on. Considering that statistics indicate that there has been an increase of over 300% in the number of children that have been involved in divorces since 1970 to date in South Africa, it is of extreme importance that children’s coping, and that which assists them in coping with the impact of their parents’ divorce, is explored within the South African context. The divorce of a child’s parents has been taken to be one of the most stressful events with which a child may have to cope. It is not surprising that it has been found that children are negatively impacted upon by divorce. Divorce has been found to influence children emotionally, academically, socially and even physically. While the effects have been researched extensively the results have over time proven to be somewhat contradictory. This has in the last decade resulted in an international resurgence in interest into the effects of divorce on children. It has been suggested that children are not always negatively impacted upon by their parents’ divorce and do not necessarily show long-term negative sideeffects. Furthermore, in investigating children’s coping with their parents’ divorce it was found there was a need to explore the ways in which children cope with this phenomenon specifically from the children’s perspective. Previous studies have relied largely on adults’ perspectives on children’s coping. From a phenomenological perspective this study employed a grounded theory methodology, in order to allow the data from interviews with forty one children from white, middle-class families to elucidate their perspectives enabling a new understanding of children’s coping within the context of divorce to be developed. Eight categories were developed incorporating coping strategies pertaining to personal factors, relationships, spiritual and therapeutic interventions, the role of extra-mural activities and a stable environment, as well as the role of conflict and resiliency. It was found that children need to develop a personal understanding of their parents’ divorce and be given the opportunity to voice their opinions in developing a sense of consistency in their lives. A new conceptualisation of children’s coping was developed, giving recognition to the intentionality and unintentionality of children’s coping that existing taxonomies of coping strategies did not address. Although this study was begun prior to the ratification of the Children’s Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005), the findings of this study support some of the principles enshrined in this new Act. The children’s expressed desire to have a voice on matters pertaining to themselves, the need for co-parenting and “equal time” and the value of involvement of other significant people in their lives were all concepts that were found to assist children in their coping with divorce.