Self-esteem and Coping Strategy among Adolescents as Victims of Parental Divorce

Abstract

: A family has important functions and meanings for life sustainability in finding the meaning and purpose of children's life. An unharmonious family can cause psychological impacts of each children's age, especially for adolescents. Adolescents whose parents divorced have different responses. In general, the decision to choose aspects of coping strategies and responses used by adolescents is in accordance with the pressure situation they face. Aspects of coping strategies can be used in part or all for problem-solving. This study aimed to determine the relationship between self-esteem and coping strategies, including aspects of which coping strategies are used by adolescents as victims of parental divorce. This quantitative study was conducted on 60 adolescents in Banda Aceh district, aged 13-19 years with duration of their parents’ divorce were about 1-6 years, through incidental sampling. Data of self-esteem were collected by using adaptations of the Revised Self-Liking Self-Competence Scale (SLCS-R) and data of coping strategies were collected by using The Brief Cope Scale. Parametric data were analyzed by using Pearson Product Moment correlation, while non-parametric data analyzed by Spearman Brown-Formula. The results of the analysis showed there was a relationship between self-esteem and coping strategies. Adolescents in this study used 7 coping aspects (active coping, planning, religion, using emotional support, using instrumental support, denial and self -blame) significantly ( p <0.05), but on denial and self-blame coping aspects showed negative relations.