Parental Divorce and Psychological Capital in Young Adults: A Strengths-Based Qualitative Exploration

Description

Kimberly Anthony and Divyanshu Sharma (Chitkara School of Psychology, and Counselling, Chitkara University, Rajpura, Punjab)

Parental separation or divorce is one of the major psychosocial transitions that affect the psychological development of the child. However, previous literature has largely focused on the detrimental effects of divorce or separation, while little attention has been paid to positive psychological development. Thus, this study investigated the phenomenon of psychological capital, which encompasses such concepts as hope, resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism, in the context of parents’ divorce or separation among young adults. This study used a qualitative design and semi-structured interviews of 10 participants aged 18-25 years, recruited through purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was applied in the data analysis. The findings of the study shows that although many participants faced the challenges of emotional distress and adjusting to their new circumstances, most of them showed psychological growth due to adaptive coping, emotional maturity, problem-solving skills, and an optimistic outlook on their future life. It was also observed that high resilience, self-efficacy, and optimism acted as the main buffers against adversities associated with the divorce/separation experience.