Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Pari Yarifard
• Ezzatallah Ahmadi
• Kobra Namvaran Germi

Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Madani University of Azarbaijan, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Loss of parents in childhood and adolescence is an important stressful event. It seems that the child or adolescent should adjust to it, in several ways, to cope with the therefrom stresses and psychological damages. The aim of this study was to identify adjustment mechanisms of adolescent girls to the father loss in Tabriz. The approache of the research was qualitative and the method was descriptive phenomenology. The context of the research was teenage girls (15-19 years old) of Tabriz city; who had lost their father due to illness in childhood and many years had passed since their father's death. Purposeful sampling continued until data saturation and finally 7 people were selected. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was done by Collizzi method. The findings of this research included 3 main categories and 6 subcategories. The adjustment mechanisms of girls with the absence of a father in Tabriz included self-control (thought management, emotion management), coping (social coping, economic coping) and growth (managing, growth). Most of the participants, based on their individual characteristics, receiving support from the survivors and having suitable conditions, effectively adjusted to the loss and the resulting conditions, and some others showed incompatibility with the conditions due to many reasons.

Highlights

Background and Purpose

Adolescence is usually a high-stress and sometimes a critical period. Because adolescents face several biological and developmental devolutions; such as puberty and identity formation. So, they have less capacity to regulate their emotions (Weinstock et al., 2021).The early loss of parents is a severe crisis in childhood and adolescence (Anderson et al., 2020), which is added to the usual stresses in the lives of adolescents and has adverse consequences on their socio-psychological health (Hogg et al., 2018). The death of a parent is considered one of the life-changing experiences for children (Giozo & Gobi, 2021).Although most studies have reported the negative consequences of parental absence in children in the short and long term, children in the absence of parents experience positive growth, such as strengthening family relationships, increasing the sense of loving life, and paying attention to their health (Walczak et al., 2018). one in five children who have lost their parents has a psychological disorder that requires treatment, and 80% of them adjust to the loss of their parents for up to 1-2 years (Daudney, 2008; Worden, 2009). Therefore, many children and adolescents may adjust to the loss of their parents (Porter & Clarig, 2021). Since adolescents are exposed to secondary stress, increasing and different challenges after the loss of their parents, the extent of their use of coping responses is different, and these responses affect their current and future adjustment and health (Kampas & Fariz, 1991).

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Received: 21 September 2022                                                           Accepted: 20 February 2022

Therefore, knowing the mechanisms of adolescents’ adjustment to the loss of parents is important and necessary for maintaining and improving their mental health. Thus, the research aimed to identify the adjustment mechanisms of adolescent girls to father loss.

Method

This qualitative research method was descriptive phenomenology. The context was teenage girls (15-19 years old) from Tabriz city who had lost their father due to illness in childhood. The participants were chosen by purposeful sampling until data saturation. Finally, seven people were selected. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed by the Colaizzi method using MAXQDA20 software to facilitate the analysis. To check the rigor of the research, credibility, transferability, dependability, and dependability were considered.The instrument was the 22 -items Anxious Thoughts Inventory (AnTI) (Wells, 1994), and the implemented intervention was Pyne's (2016) eight-session protocol.

Results

The results showed that the participants had different coping mechanisms with their fathers’ loss. As a result of the data reduction process, six sub-categories and three main categories were identified. The structure of concepts related to the adjustment mechanisms of adolescent girls to the father’s loss is shown in Table No. 1.

In addition, ANCOVA results for social anxiety (p 0.01, F = 34.00) indicate that the effect of narrative therapy on the social anxiety of divorced mothers is significant and reduces its level. According to the Eta Squared, this effect's size is 46%; Findings on physical anxiety (p0.05, F = 7.16) indicate that narrative therapy significantly reduces the degree of physical anxiety among divorced mothers. The Eta Squared value for this effect is 15%; In addition, regarding meta-worry (p-value=.01, F = 14.15), the findings indicate that narrative therapy significantly reduces the level of meta-worry among divorced mothers. The Eta Squared value for this effect is 26%.

Table 1. The Adjustment Aechanisms of adolescent girls to the father’s loss

Adjustment mechanisms of adolescent girls to father loss included three main categories including self-control, coping, and growth which are described below:

1. Self-control. This category includes the concepts of thought management (forgetting, unexpecting, acceptance of circumstances, entertaining oneself, increasing awareness, and optimism for the future) and emotions management (reviewing the father's memories, crying, sympathizing with the father's grave, self-confabulate, and talking to mother, patience). Most of the participants tried to control themselves by managing their thoughts and emotions after the father’s loss.
2. This category included the concepts of social coping (affability and reciprocity) and economic coping (cost management, financial independence, and financial participation). The participants showed patient behavior, silence, anger, and discomfort in encountering the inappropriate behavior of others. Also, most of them had problems in providing living expenses, to reduce the economic pressures were contentment in life and trying to find a job in the future to achieve financial independence by contributing financially and studying well.
3. This component included seeking sense (pleasing the father, religious behaviors, and reconciliation with life) and eloquence (self-scrutiny, self-reliance, planning, effort, responsibility, and supporting siblings). Most of the participants expressed that they could grow by seeking meaning in life through seeking peace with spirituality and religious behaviors and having the right behaviors for the happiness of the father's soul and finally reconciling with life. They benefited from the conditions of loss for eloquence and having hope for life.

Conclusion

This study showed that adolescent girls whose fathers passed away in childhood in Tabriz described adjustment mechanisms to the father’s loss with the components of self-control, coping, and growth. Counselors and therapists can pay attention to the findings of this research to teach new skills to fatherless adolescent girls’ adjustment.  Researchers can design models and programs in the field of proper training and counseling of surviving parents and provide effective relationships with bereaved girls.

Ethical Considerations

This study was conducted under ethical criteria and standards.

Funding: Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Financial support: The researchers have not received any financial support from any organization.

Authors’ Contribution: This article was prepared with the participation of first and third authors in conducting research, writing, and editing the article. Second author was the supervisor.

Conflict of interest: This research has no direct or indirect conflict of interest with any study.

Acknowledgments: The researchers are grateful to all the participants, parents, and school administrators.

References

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-1797-2020-27-1-80-94 [Link]

Keywords

• adjustment
• coping
• growth
• loss
• self- control

20.1001.1.23452692.1402.11.3.6.6

Main Subjects

• Woman and family