Comparing adolescents’ adjustment and family resilience in divorced families depending on the types of primary caregiver

Aims. This study compared three different types of primary caregiver in divorced families: father, mother and grandparent(s) and aimed to (1) compare adolescents’ perception of their level of adjustment and family resilience and (2) identify the family resilience predictors of adolescents’ adjustment. Background. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation guided this study. Design. Survey. Method. Adolescents in divorced families in Korea (n = 178) completed self‐administered questionnaires. Family resilience was measured by Family Hardiness Index, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, Parent‐Adolescent Communication Inventory, Social Support Appraisal Scale, Belief about Parental Divorce and Self‐Esteem Scale. Korean‐Child Behaviour Checklist was used to assess adolescents’ adjustment. Descriptive statistics, chi‐square test, anova, ancova and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. Results. The level of adolescents’ adjustment was not statistically different among the three groups. However, statistically significant differences were found in family hardiness, family communication and problem‐solving/coping skill‐seeking help among the family resilience measurements. Adolescents living with mothers reported the highest scores in family hardiness and family communication. The grandparent(s) group sought and accepted help outside of the family more often than did the other groups. Regardless of the types of primary caregiver, a common significant predictor for adolescents’ adjustment was their positive belief about parental divorce; whereas high self‐esteem and low level of seeking help were additional predictors for the father group and grandparent(s) group, respectively. Conclusions. Adolescents’ belief about parental divorce is a major predictor for adolescents’ adjustment to divorced family life. Nursing services that maximise the family resilience predictors found in this study would enhance adolescents’ adjustment in divorced families. Relevance to clinical practice. This study provides empirical evidence for nursing care of adolescents who live with differing primary caregivers in divorced families and enhances nurses’ understanding of family resilience predictors that influence adolescents’ adjustment in divorced families.