Fachrina Fachrina, Maihasni Maihasni

Social Support for Post-Divorce Role Readjustment

Introduction

Social support for post-divorce role readjustment. Understand how family and social networks provide crucial emotional, practical, and informational support for post-divorce role readjustment, especially for women. Enhance interventions.

Abstract

Divorce causes changes in social roles and relationships both in the family and in the society. Readjustment requires greater attention and effort, especially by women, regarding the socio-economic impacts it causes. This research aims at explaing the forms of family social supports and social networks for post-divorce role readjustment. A qualitative approach was used by conducting in-depth interviews with eight deliberately selected participants who had experienced the divorce in the last one to three years and they had children. Social support from family and social networks have a significant positive impact on the post- divorce readjustment process. Key findings highlight that emotional, practical, and informational support and positive feedback play an important role in helping the individuals navigate their complex life changes after the divorce. Parents are the first parties to provide emotional support in the form of empathy, motivation, advice, and a place to share feelings as a form of self-acceptance for the children. Parents are also the source of material support to help finance living needs and child care. Support from social networks includes providing information about available resources or services and advice to overcome the post-divorce difficulties, but there is a relative lack of perceived support and positive responses. This research provides important insights with how social support can facilitate the post-divorce readjustment process and emphasizes the need to integrate the strategies for strengthening the social support into individual readjustment interventions.

Review

This research provides timely and valuable insights into the crucial role of social support in facilitating post-divorce role readjustment, a significant life transition often fraught with socio-economic challenges, particularly for women. The study effectively employs a qualitative approach, utilizing in-depth interviews with eight carefully selected participants to explore the forms of family social support and social networks instrumental in this process. A key finding is the significant positive impact of both family and social networks, with emotional, practical, and informational support, alongside positive feedback, being identified as paramount. The distinction in findings regarding parental support – encompassing empathy, motivation, advice, and material aid – versus the more nuanced and sometimes less perceived support from broader social networks, is particularly noteworthy. The strengths of this study lie in its qualitative design, which allows for a deep, rich understanding of the subjective experiences of individuals navigating post-divorce readjustment. By focusing on the specific forms of support received, the research moves beyond simply acknowledging the importance of social support to delineating its practical manifestations. The clear identification of parents as primary emotional and material supporters, coupled with the observation of a relative lack of perceived support from general social networks, offers critical insights for targeted interventions. This differentiation is vital for developing effective strategies aimed at strengthening appropriate support systems to better integrate into individual readjustment interventions, as the authors rightly recommend. While the study offers robust qualitative depth, the relatively small sample size of eight participants, though appropriate for this methodology, naturally limits the generalizability of the findings to broader populations. Future research could expand upon these foundational insights by exploring a larger and more diverse sample, including variations in socio-economic status, cultural backgrounds, and geographical locations, to ascertain the universality or specificity of these support mechanisms. Further investigation into the factors contributing to the "relative lack of perceived support and positive responses" from social networks would also be beneficial, perhaps examining communication styles, stigma, or geographical distance. Nevertheless, this research stands as a strong contribution to the understanding of post-divorce readjustment, offering practical implications for both individuals and support professionals.

Full Text

Comments

You need to be logged in to post a comment.