Abstract:
Living with alcohol-abusing parents during the adolescence stage is often an emotional draining experience to some adolescents. This study was purposed at exploring the experiences that adolescents living with parents who abuse alcohol go through and the coping mechanisms that they employ to deal with such experiences. The convenient sample of six participants was selected from the Appelsbosch population and they participated voluntarily. The research findings indicated that the experiences of adolescents living with alcohol abusing in Appelsbosch are comprised by parent’s lack of proper parental supervision, lack of parent’s involvement in their school work, poverty, being sent out at night, witnessing parent’s conflicts, and assuming a role of a caregiver at an early age. Other family members, neighbors, friends, social groups as well as sport groups were found to be effective in helping adolescents cope with the parent’s alcohol abuse.
Description:
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts (Counselling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
