Veerkragtigheidsfaktore in Suid-Afrikaanse en Belgiese enkelouergesinne

["Single-parent families -- South Africa", "Single-parent families -- Belgium", "Resilience (Personality trait)", "Dissertations -- Psychology", "Theses -- Psychology"]

Aspeling, Elmien ; Greeff, A. P.

Stellenbosch University

Others  :  https://scholar.sun.ac.za:443/bitstream/10019.1/50220/1/aspeling_veerkragtigheidsfaktore_2004.pdf

瑞士|英语

来源: Stellenbosch University

【 摘 要 】

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study focuses on the identification and comparison of resilience factors in Belgian and SouthAfrican single parent families. The participants (parents and children in single parent families)from the two countries were identified on the basis of the nature of the crisis and the stage ofdevelopment of the families.Self-reporting questionnaires were completed separately by the parent and a child, asrepresentatives of the family. The questionnaires comprised a biographical questionnaire (whichalso included an open-ended question), the Relative and Friend Support Index, the Social SupportIndex, Family Crises Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales, the Family Sense of Coherence Scale,and the Family Hardiness Index. The responses from parents and children were analysedseparately, therefore dealing with them as four groups (Belgian parents, South African parents,Belgian children and South African children). Pearson product-moment correlations werecalculated to determine which factors were most strongly related to family coherence (FamilySense of Coherence). Family coherence is a quality that provides an indication of the measure ofsuccess achieved with adaptation following a crisis (divorce). This was followed with regressionanalyses for identifying a group of resilience factors that would, in combination, provide the bestpredictor for successful family adjustment.The results of this study confirm that of previous research, namely in the findings that thedifferent populations reveal similarities as well as differences with regard to qualities andresources utilized for successful adaptation after a crisis. Results reveal that the inherent strengthof the family in all four groups (parents and children from both countries) is seen as one of themost important resilience factors (as measured by the Family Hardiness Index). Aspects thatshow strong correlation with family coherence are: a sense of control (the perception of how wellthe family is able to deal with a crisis) over the outcomes of life experiences; the family's orientation with regard to challenges that have to be faced; as well as an active orientation(tendency to do something about the situation) with regard to adaptation in a stressful situation (asmeasured by the Family Hardiness Index). The importance of redefining the problem (crisis) interms of its significance for the family (positive, negative or neutral) was also identified as a coreresilience factor. Results from the parents in both countries revealed that the number of years ofseparation/number of years that had elapsed since the divorce was a significant resilience factor.The longer the time period after the divorce, the better the adjustment. A significant differencewas found between the results obtained for Belgian and South African children with regard to theduration of the parents' marriage and the duration of the period since the parents' divorce, and therelevance of this for the family's adaptation. The children from both countries revealedsimilarities with regard to the importance of the utilization and the support of members of theimmediate family, the extended family and friends to overcome the crisis. The results obtainedfor parents in both countries did not confirm this aspect, i.e. the value of support from family andfriends.