Parenting adolescents: a phenomenological approach

[摘要] English: The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the dynamics of the parenting experience as it relates to parenting adolescents, with the specific aim of exploring and achieving an understanding of the particular experiences that parents of adolescents and their adolescent children describe; and of discovering how they have experienced a collaborative or participatory approach to the parenting process. The over-arching theoretical orientation is social constructionism. From a social constructionist point of view meaning making and knowledge is contextual, applying only to the specific context from which it is derived. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was the selected methodology, involving careful recording of participants' expressions in semi-structured interviews followed by thematic coding and analysis. Three groups of parents and three groups of adolescents, from three culturally and economically diverse communities in the Western Cape, South Africa, participated in focus groups and shared their experiences of the parenting process. Through the explication of the data five main themes emerged as being important to the participants: Connection and communication was seen as being of first importance, reflecting perceptions of effective parent-adolescent relationships as close and emotionally connected. Parental control and protection presented as an equally important and related area of concern, reflecting the belief that effective communication would enable a more collaborative, negotiated approach to issues of safety, limit setting, expectations and consequences. Some of the adolescent participants expressed a strong need for parents to respect their individuality and independence, which in their view was related to the development of trust as a two-way process. The fourth key theme was the need for information and services. The ability to access reliable information and services empowers both parents and adolescents to make effective and informed decisions. Finally, the role of fathers featured strongly in discussions with all groups and was identified as playing a significant role in parent-adolescent relationship satisfaction. This study illustrates a process by which families can be enabled to arrive at a deeper understanding of the needs and challenges specific to each family; and to collaborate in generating ideas that could contribute to a meaningful parenting plan or parenting practices that work for that particular family.

[发布机构] University of the Free State