Family and beyond: exploring views of adolescents from single mother families

Abstract

In recent years, India has seen an increase in alternative familial structures. Changes in attitude and aspirations along with the weakening of the power exerted by parents and families helps promote alternative living arrangements. A single-mother family may come about as a result of the preferences, choices, and/or constraints held by the parent. The aim of this study was to explore the perspective of adolescent, Indian females, who belong to Single Parent Families, on the notion of family. Another objective was to draw a parallel between an individual from a Divorce Family and another from a Family who lost the father to death. We specified our focus to Single Mothers, only. We used descriptive, qualitative methodology and purposeful sampling and interviews for collecting the data. There were 2 participants who explained their perspectives on family as a concept and their own families. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that adolescents understand family more than just as a group related by blood and kinship. Adjustment and coping may come about differently. The loss of Father has a big implication on financial stability. We could identify strong parent-child communication, a healthy network of community support, and remarkably high levels of adolescent autonomy as factors of single parent families.