Absent parent/s: Psychological implications on children

Magqamfana, Simnikiwe Happy

Title: Absent parent/s: Psychological implications on children
Creator: Magqamfana, Simnikiwe Happy
Subject: Single parent families -- South Africa
Subject: Father and child -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa
Subject: Father figures -- Psychological aspects
Subject: -- Children, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
Subject: College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
Subject: Child development -- South Africa
Date Issued: 2019
Date: 2019
Type: text
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96886
Identifier: vital:31343
Description: The present study intends to explore the psychological implications on the university students who grew up in households where their biological fathers are absent. Most studies associate the absence of the biological fathers with psychological challenges which, among others, include negative emotions such as anger, challenges with maintaining romantic relationships and tend to perform poorly at school. Such research on absence of fathers tends to privilege the biological father discourse in its analysis and often mentions in passing the role played by ‘other’ family members as ‘fathers’. Since during data collection participants kept on referring to the role of other family members or father figures, the study then expanded its scope of inquiry to include this phenomenon. Semi-structured face to face interviews were used to collect data from five university students and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Psychoanalytic theory was used to specifically to understand or conceptualize the psychological implications on participants caused by the absence of the biological father. Black Social organization theory and Structural Functionalism theory were used to conceptualize the role of other family members/families or father figures in participants’ experiences and the influence of the society they grew up in. This study found that the participants accepted the role of the biological father as central in their lives and its absence resulted in psychological and economical difficulties. To cope with such difficulties, the support from other family members or other father figures was found to be significant in participants lives. Also, this study found that father absence motivates the participants to succeed to better their lives and majority of the participants regarded their grandmothers as father figures.
Format: 104 pages
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Psychology
Language: English
Rights: Magqamfana, Simnikiwe Happy

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