An exploratory study into Singaporean Chinese single parents' lives after divorce : reconfiguring the family life and adapting to single-parenthood

Abstract

Using qualitative interviews, this study seeks to explore the single-parenthood experiences of single-parents- how they reconfigure their family lives and adapt to the single-parent role. Particularly, this study adopts a structural symbolic interactionist root of identity theory to explore a) single parents‘ expectations of the family b) challenges of single-parenthood life and c) the meanings attached to the processes undertaken and coping strategies adopted to adapt to the single-parent role. This study explores how social structures can facilitate or constrain single parents‘ reworking of family lives and adaptation process, particularly; the degree of reflexivity single parents can exercise.