The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of stresses and coping strategies of children in remarried family to provide some alternatives for them.
For this study, survey of the stress and solutions according to the general characteristi...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of stresses and coping strategies of children in remarried family to provide some alternatives for them.
For this study, survey of the stress and solutions according to the general characteristics of the subjects and survey of the stress and solutions according to the cognitive form of their parents were done. The subjects consisted of 73 middle school or high school students living in remarried family in Gyong-ju. Questionnaires were about the stress which they went through and solving strategy to remove it. The children's stress was divided according to their relationships with their parents, brothers and sisters, kinship and social relation, examined and analysed. The solving strategies were divided into problem-centered solving strategy and emotion-centered solving strategy, examined and analysed.
The results were as follow:
Stress degree due to the general characteristics of the subjects was higher when the children objected to their parents' remarriage, their parents didn't reflect the children's opinion on their remarriage, and it was not long since formation of new family. In addition, the children got much stressed when stepmother or stepfather had their own children.
In case of the stress due to the cognitive form of their parents, the stress degree was higher when they didn't regard their stepmother or stepfather as their true parents. As for the solving strategy, they took the emotion-centered strategy.
Those results showed that children's opinions on their parents remarriage and reflection degree of them could be main cause of their stress. And the children suffered from much stress when they didn't include their stepmother or stepfather in their parents category
The result of this study lead to the following recommendations.
First of all parents have to take account of the children's opinion adequately in preparing their remarriage when their children object to their remarriage. Even when their children approve of their remarriage, parents have to have enough conversation with their children to minimize the confusion due to acceptance new family members. In addition, it is appropriate for parents and children to participate in remarriage preparing program for getting acquainted with each other step by step.