청소년 자녀를 둔 저소득층 한부모가족 어머니들의 부모역할 경험에 대한 질적 연구

A Qualitative Study on the Parental Role Experiences of Low-Income Single Mothers Raising Adolescents

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The present study examined parental role experiences of low-income single mothers who were raising adolescents through a qualitative approach. A total of nine low-income single mothers who were raising early adolescents (ages 11-14) participated in the study. Data were collected through two individual in-depth interviews for each participant and analyzed through the six-step thematic analysis procedure. The following themes emerged: ‘Being a low-income single mother raising adolescents,’ ‘Facing changes in adolescent children,’ ‘Difficulties of raising adolescents and attempts at positive parenting,’ ‘Helps with raising adolescents,’ ‘Living as middle-aged single mothers,’ ‘Complex feelings for the adolescents,’ and ‘Expectations and hopes for the future.’ Overall, the mothers showed strong sense of responsibility for parenting and expressed hopes for the adolescents’ future in spite of the mothers’ own emotional and financial difficulties, insufficient social support and difficult mother-adolescent relationships. Intervention/policy approaches that consider the complex parental role experiences of low-income single mothers raising adolescents should be developed.