The divorce penalty: an interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand the lived experiences of adult children of divorce in Singapore

• Main Author: Valalan-Rajendran, Sinchita
• Other Authors: Premchand Dommaraju
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social sciences::Sociology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/173120
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The nuclear family model has been enshrined through State rhetoric as central to ensuring the prosperity and longevity of the nation. Despite changing perceptions towards marriage and a rise in divorces and divorced homes with children, the State maintains an intransigent adherence to the nuclear family model. Implicit in this emphasis on the nuclear family model is that any other family form is deficient, thus rendering children from such families deficient by extension. These beliefs were further reinforced in a study conducted by the Ministry of Social and Family Development that found adult children of divorce had poorer socioeconomic outcomes than their peers from nuclear families, hence resulting in the presence of a “divorce penalty”. To understand what this “divorce penalty” entailed for adult children of divorce, this study employed a qualitative approach through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to obtain a retrospective analysis from adult children of divorce who experienced parental divorce prior to the age of 21. This was done to understand how the broader social and cultural systems shape the experiences and identity of being a child of divorce in Singapore. This study examined the impact of parental divorce on the experiences, norms, identities, expectations, relationships and roles related to being an Adult Child of Divorce. The findings in this thesis illustrate the nuances of the experiences of adult children of divorce, who occupy a precarious position in Singapore society due to their family backgrounds. It is a label that follows them through various aspects of their lives, and drastically impacts their worldviews and experiences. This study found 4 key findings namely stigmatising attitudes towards children from divorced families, parentification, relationship and marital confidence as well as stability as a resilience adaptation. Much research has been aimed at evaluating the effect of divorce on children. The effects via the perceptions of adult children of divorce, however, are substantially underrepresented in this literature. Moreover, there is a dearth of literature that has studied the impact of parental divorce on adult children of divorce within Singapore’s unique context that emphasizes the nuclear family model. The findings on the various dimensions of the “divorce penalty” for contribute to the theoretical understanding of impact of parental divorce on children in Singapore.