Influence of parental divorce on the psychological adjustment of adolescent students in south west Ethiopia

Background: In this research, the psychological adjustment of adolescent students to parental divorce is the main focus of interest. The research questioned whether parental divorce influences the psychological adjustment of adolescents. Method: Two groups (adolescents from divorced family and from intact family) were examined across three domains of self-reported adolescent psychological functioning. The study was conducted on 120 adolescents of both sex (60 from each study groups) attending 10+1 and 10+2 grade level at Jimma, Agaro and Mizan town preparatory schools. Socio-demographic details and responses to questionnaires assessing the psychological adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress) of adolescents were recorded. Results: The data of the two study groups was analyzed, and compared using computer based statistical measures (SPSS) of correlation and t-test. The comparison analysis, which was measured by independent sample t-test, at α = 0.05, found that adolescents from a divorced family scored a higher mean in the psychological measure of depression (M=2.66 mean score), anxiety (M=3.13 mean score) and stress (M=2.79 mean score) as compared to the lower mean score of adolescents from the intact family. Discussion: The finding indicated that adolescents from divorced family performed poor in psychological functioning (i.e., were more vulnerable to depression, anxiety and stress) as compared to adolescents from intact family, suggesting that differences can be attributed to parental divorce and its accompanying socio-demographic factors.