Barns fornemmelse for brudd. Erfaringer med å vokse opp med skilte foreldre
Sammanfattning
According to Statistics Norway (SSB), it is estimated that 10 000 children under 18 years lived
through their parents’ divorce in 2012. About twice as many children experience separation when
cohabiting parents who split up are included. An increasing group of children are growing up with
parents who do not live together. In their childhood these children’s relationship with their parents
depends on the parent’s collaboration, such as visitation agreements.
The aim of the study was to describe the phenomenology of growing up as a child of divorced
parents. The study was conducted using a qualitative method within a phenomenological-
hermeneutic perspective. The basis of the study was ten individual in-depth interviews with adults
who reflected on their childhood with divorced parents. The findings show how they describe what
they did as children, (1) sensing the atmospheres and moods in their home when parents break up
and when they are collaborating about visiting agreements, (2) the importance of the extended family
and other significant others, (3) predictability of interaction and flexibility in cooperation for
companionship, and (4) the sense of having two parents even if the parents are not living together.