The effects of parental separation/divorce on adolescents in Malaysia

Abstract

In recent years, the incidence of marital disruption in Malaysia has increased. Nevertheless, there is little clarity regarding the post-separation adjustment and well-being of adolescents in these single-parent families in Malaysia, specifically within its distinctive multi-cultural and multi-racial context. Research on the impact of parental marital disruption on the adjustment and welfare of children and adolescents have mostly emerged from the Western nations and scarcely from the non-Western countries. Hence, this research would bridge the existing gap of knowledge cross-culturally by investigating the various factors and outcome variables associated with parental marital dissolution that influence the adjustment and well-being of adolescents specifically in Malaysia.

The current study focused on a sample of adolescents of separated or divorced parents, using mixed-methods research design was conducted across three states in Northern Peninsula Malaysia. However, due to constraints on research resources and a desire to focus on the understudied group of adolescents from maritally disrupted families, adolescents from intact family were not included in the sample of the current study. For the quantitative approach, 246 adolescent participants from both separated and divorced families of the three main ethnic groups in the country, namely Malay, Chinese, and Indian, and between the ages of 13 and 18, were identified and recruited from 14 secondary schools in the three states. Participants filled out a questionnaire which asked about demographic, sociological, and psychological effects of parental marital dissolution. In addition, a separate survey was completed by the class teachers of the adolescent participants for data triangulation. Apart from school participants, 13 participants ranging in ages from 13 to 21 were also recruited from the community. To complement the quantitative data, 15 interviews with adolescent participants and another 15 interviews with their respective resident parents were carried out in order to obtain more open-ended descriptions of lived experiences.

The current quantitative results indicated that parental marital dissolution has largely similar impacts on the levels of academic performance, behavior, and adjustment problems of adolescents in both the West and in Malaysia. These outcomes varied in predictable fashion depending on adolescents gender, age, parents socioeconomic status, and the social support they perceived from their environment. Within the Malaysian context, a distinctive finding that emerged from my quantitative analyses was that, on the whole, Malay adolescents seemed to be faring better following parental marital disruption when compared to their peers of Chinese and Indian ethnic groups. This finding may be primarily attributable to the religious belief held by Malay adolescents that the marital dissolution of their parents was out of their parents control and was, instead, God s will.

Another noteworthy finding was that the age of adolescents at which their parents were separated or divorced was significantly and positively correlated with the positive view they held of their nonresident parent (i.e. usually the father). In particular, older adolescents of divorced parents perceived their fathers in a more positive light than their younger counterparts. In addition, the qualitative interviews indicated that, owing to the fact that Malaysia is a developing economy and a collectivistic society, divorce is still frowned upon and stigmatized by Malaysian society, in particular in rural areas and small towns, in comparison to developed Western countries. The main findings were also compared and contrasted with the extant international literature. Finally, the strengths and limitations of the current study, for example the lack of a control group, were discussed along with suggestions for future research.