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199 Pages·2008·0.34 MB·English

SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES: FROM STEREOTYPE TO ARCHETYPE

by

DIANA DIKELEDI MONAMA

submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of

MASTER OF ARTS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

at the

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: PROF F J A SNYDERS

NOVEMBER 2007

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Student Number: 32345356

I declare that

SINGLE PARENT FAMILIES: FROM STEREOTYPE TO ARCHETYPE

is my own work and that all sources that I have used or
quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of
complete references.

Signature: ________________________
(Ms D D Monama)

Date: __________________________

Acknowledgements

Many persons, too numerous to name influenced directly or
indirectly this dissertation.
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• I am particularly grateful to my supervisor, Prof
F.J.A Snyders, for his patience and invaluable
guidance.
• A special thanks to my friends for their encouragement
and their belief in me when I felt that I would not be
able to complete the study.
• To Wilma Burger, the oncology social worker who made
this study possible by recommending participants and
her enthusiasm in the study.
• Many thanks to my parents for their support throughout
my studies.
• To my two daughters, Janet and Jane who inspired this
study; their understanding and support when I could
not attend to their needs during the writing of this
work.
• And finally, to the four widowers who were willing to
share their most sensitive experiences with a
stranger.

SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES: FROM STEREOTYPE TO ARCHETYPE

SUMMARY

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The number of single-parent families has increased
dramatically in the world. In South Africa, this increase
has partly been due to the increased number of deaths as a
result of the AIDS pandemic. The purpose of this study is
to explore experiences of widowers as single parents. The
study proposes to elevate the view of single-parent
families, which classes them as stereotypes of
victimization, to where such families come to represent
responsible archetypes. Unstructured in-depth interviews
were used to obtain data from two Black and two White
widowed single fathers. Thematic content analysis was
utilized to identify emerging themes from the fathers’
stories. Fathers in this study challenged the deficit
model’s view of single parenting which claims that these
families are broken. As far as its applicability is
concerned, this study may be beneficial to
psychotherapists, single parents and society as a whole.

Keywords: Single-parent family, widower, stereotype,
archetype.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……………………………………………………………………………………………………ii
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………iii
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………iv
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Table of contents……………………………………………………………………………………v
List of figures and tables……………………………………………………………viii

CHAPTER 1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………1
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………1
Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………2
Design of the study…………………………………………………………………………2
Sampling………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
Data Collection……………………………………………………………………………………3
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………3
Definition of concepts…………………………………………………………………4
Single-parent families……………………………………………………………4
Widowers…………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Stereotype……………………………………………………………………………………………5
Archetype………………………………………………………………………………………………6
Chapter Outline……………………………………………………………………………………7

CHAPTER 2…………………………………………………………………………………………………………10
Theoretical frame of reference……………………………………………10
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………10
Anti-realism………………………………………………………………………………………12
Language…………………………………………………………………………………………………16
Culture……………………………………………………………………………………………………18
Power…………………………………………………………………………………………………………22
Locating Social Constructionism
within psychotherapy………………………………………………………………………25
Locating Social Constructionism
within research……………………………………………………………………………………27
Social Constructionism revisited………………………………………30
Moderate (scientific) realism considered…………………32

CHAPTER 3…………………………………………………………………………………………………………36
Literature review………………………………………………………………………………36
Historical overview of literature……………………………………37
Myths and realities of single
parents and their families…………………………………………………38
Role of fathers in parenting……………………………………………46
Moral father…………………………………………………………………………………51
The breadwinner…………………………………………………………………………52
The gender-role model…………………………………………………………53
The new nurturant father…………………………………………………53
Widowers as single parents…………………………………………………57
Sex-role identification…………………………………………………………61
Social isolation and or systemic
embeddedness of single parent families…………………65
Challenges for single parents…………………………………………68
Financial difficulties………………………………………………………69
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Social interaction/redefinition of role…………70
Single parenting from an ecological
perspective…………………………………………………………………………………………70
Microsystems…………………………………………………………………………………72
Mesosystems……………………………………………………………………………………72
Ecosystems………………………………………………………………………………………72
Macrosystems…………………………………………………………………………………73
Cybernetics of cybernetics view of family
normality……………………………………………………………………………………………………73

CHAPTER 4…………………………………………………………………………………………………………75
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………………75
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………75
Qualitative research paradigm………………………………………………76
Social Constructionism…………………………………………………………………78
Sampling………………………………………………………………………………………………………81
Sampling size……………………………………………………………………………………81
Sampling problems…………………………………………………………………………82
Contacting participants………………………………………………………………82
Data collection……………………………………………………………………………………83
Data analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………85
Step 1: Familiarisation and immersion……………………87
Step 2: Inducing themes…………………………………………………………87
Step 3: Coding…………………………………………………………………………………88
Step 4: Elaboration……………………………………………………………………88
Step 5: Interpretation and checking…………………………88
Trustworthiness of qualitative research……………………89
Credibility…………………………………………………………………………………………90
Transferability………………………………………………………………………………91
Dependability……………………………………………………………………………………92
Confirmability…………………………………………………………………………………93
Ethical issues………………………………………………………………………………………94

CHAPTER 5…………………………………………………………………………………………………………97
Interviews…………………………………………………………………………………………………97
Presentation of interviews…………………………………………………97
Genograms……………………………………………………………………………………………………98
An introduction to Mr Mathe……………………………………………………99
Background information……………………………………………………………101
The interview……………………………………………………………………………………101
Themes emerging from Mr Mathe’s interview………………102
Control and helplessness………………………………………………………102
Aiming to be a ‘perfect father and mother’………107
Isolation………………………………………………………………………………………………110
Mr Mathe’s response to the interview summaries…112
Researcher’s reflections on the interviews……………113
An introduction to Marko……………………………………………………………114
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Background information……………………………………………………………116
The interview……………………………………………………………………………………117
Themes emerging from Marko’s interview………………………118
Responsibility…………………………………………………………………………………118
Keeping things the same…………………………………………………………122
Connectedness and isolation………………………………………………124
Marko’s response to the interview summaries…………126
Researcher’s reflections on the interviews……………126
An introduction to Matt………………………………………………………………127
Background information…………………………………………………………129
The interview…………………………………………………………………………………129
Themes emerging from Matt’s interview…………………………130
Helplessness………………………………………………………………………………………130
Isolation and support………………………………………………………………132
Time available versus time needed………………………………134
Matt’s response to the interview summaries……………137
Researcher’s reflections on the interviews……………137
An introduction to Mandla…………………………………………………………137
Background information……………………………………………………………139
The interview……………………………………………………………………………………140
Themes emerging from Mandla’s interview……………………141
Disbelief………………………………………………………………………………………………141
Protection……………………………………………………………………………………………143
Closeness and distance……………………………………………………………147
Mandla’s response to the interview summaries………150
Summaries of the four interviews………………………………………151
Adjustment to loss and loneliness………………………………151
Being the best parent………………………………………………………………156
Routines and rituals…………………………………………………………………161

CHAPTER 6…………………………………………………………………………………………………………164
Conclusions and implications…………………………………………………164
Summaries of the participants’ meta-themes……………166
Implications for single-parents…………………………………………171
Implications for psychotherapists……………………………………173
Limitations of the study……………………………………………………………174
Reflections of the researcher………………………………………………174
Suggestions for further research………………………………………176

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………………………………179

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

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PARTICIPANTS’ GENOGRAMS

Figure 1: Before Mrs Mathe’s death………………………………………100
Figure 2: After Mrs Mathe’s death…………………………………………100
Figure 3: Before Corrie’s death………………………………………………115
Figure 4: After Corrie’s death…………………………………………………116
Figure 5: Before Kimberly’s death…………………………………………128
Figure 6: After Kimberly’s death……………………………………………128
Figure 7: Before Thato’s death…………………………………………………138
Figure 8: After Thato’s death……………………………………………………139

Table 1: Themes co-occurring across
and within interviews…………………………………………………164

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Families are the social units which are held primarily
responsible for the procreation, nurturance, and
socialisation of children. Because families serve these
vital social functions, the family as a microcosm of
society has been the focus of a great deal of attention
(Mendes, 1975). Partaking of social stereotypes around
single-parent families, studies of these families have been
based on the pathological (deficit) model of single parent-
families which claims that such families are broken,
deviant, and dysfunctional (Javo, Ronning, Heyerdahl &
Rudmin, 2004; Snyman, 1993). This author hopes to de-
stigmatize single parents in general, and single fathers in
particular. It is also hoped that this study will help
professionals working with single men who are trying to
raise children on their own and be the best parents for
their children.

There has been a shift from the traditional two-parent
family to more diverse forms of family structures (Dowd,
1997); therefore, an understanding of single- parent
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families is essential. Although an increasing number of
people are choosing to raise children on their own, parents
may become single parents through death or divorce. Parents
who find themselves parenting their children on their own
after the death of a spouse are faced with the numerous
challenges of lone parenting at a time when they are going
through their own trauma.

Statement of the problem

The present study is an exploratory one, aimed at
achieving a preliminary understanding of single parent-
families. The focus is on how the family functions as a
unit in the absence of one parent, namely the mother. The
unit of analysis is the widowed father, who has a child or
children under 18 at the time of the interview.

Design of the study

In order to gather in-depth information and
descriptions regarding the experiences of widowed fathers
as single parents, a method that allowed more probing and
flexibility was chosen. Qualitative research methodology
using thematic content analysis was used to explore the
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