The Contribution of Divorce to Parental-Self Efficacy and Perception of Parenting among Divorced Parents: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

The study explores the contribution that divorce has on parents’ parental self-efficacy. Divorce and self-efficacy of the are areas that have been extensively studied in recent decades. Going through a divorce has an effect on how parents parent their children, which in turn has an effect on the behavioral, emotional, social and academic outcomes of the child. Divorce is considered a significant factor in determining emotional and social problems that children begin to exhibit. However, limited research has been conducted on the relationship between divorce and parental self-efficacy and exploring the perceptions of parenting among divorced parents in South Africa. This study used qualitative interviews to explore the impact of divorce on parental self-efficacy and perceptions of parenting among ten divorced parents from working to middle class community in Cape Town, South Africa. The interviews were analyzed by making use of thematic analysis. Although participants experienced an initial period of elevated emotional distress and feeling overwhelmed at becoming a single parent, their confidence in their parenting increased over time as they began to adjust to their new lives and received adequate and regular support. This was accomplished through various techniques and coping mechanisms employed by the participants, and with their social support structure playing a significant role in contributing to their parental self-efficacy. These results suggest that even though newly divorced parents feel initially overwhelmed and emotionally distressed in the initial stages, if they are given sufficient support and time to stabilize while integrating in to their new lives, their parent self-efficacy increases and they are more confident in their parenting abilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental self-efficacy
• parenting perceptions
• divorce
• divorced parents
• Parenting styles and practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation with grant numbers 118551, 118581, 115460 [n/a].