The Lived Experiences Of Adolescents Of Divorced Parents In Addis Ababa (cases Presented In Lideta Federal First Instance Court)

This study is about understanding the experience and challenges of adolescents’ lives before, during, and after their parents’ divorce. To this effect, the study used qualitative research design to understand the stories and meanings constructed from seven research participants coming from divorced parents. The sample size of the study was determined based on data saturation. In addition, the study used descriptive phenomenological research approach to understand the lived experience and subjective meaning of the experience of the participants. Data was collected through the use of in-depth interviews and observation. Purposive sampling was used in the study in which participants are deliberately been approached based on inclusion criteria. Additionally, Giorgi’s method of data analysis was used to analyze the information gathered from the research participants. The findings of the study indicated that a group of adolescents had a disrupted life before the divorce of their parents leading to emotional, social and health problems. Hence, their parents’ divorce gave them a sense of freedom, peace and closure in their lives. On the other hand, the remaining group of adolescents had a happy and peaceful experience while their parents were living together. Consequently, they had a painful experience when their parents got divorced and had a difficult time of getting a closure during and after their parents’ divorce. During the process of parental divorce, all adolescents felt uncomfortable going to “Lideta” Federal First Instance court and talking about the issues of their parents with assigned Social workers at court. Moreover, there was no custody battle between the parents during the process of divorce in court. Hence, adolescents had no experience of choosing sides between their parents. Furthermore, a number of adolescents had endured negative emotions because of the remarriage of their parents. In addition, all adolescents had a deteriorated relationship with non-custodial parents/families which lead them to develop the feelings of low self-esteem and abandonment in their lives. Nevertheless, adolescents had established a close bond and attachment with custodial parents which has supported them to accord to the negative impact of parental divorce. This study has concluded that parental divorce has got a positive and negative impact on the lives of the adolescents. It also paves the way for further research investigation and development of policies concerning the impact of parental divorce on the lives of adolescents.rnKey Words: Adolescents, Custodial parents, Divorced parents, Non-custodial parents

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