Effects of Parental Divorce on Psychological Empowerment in Boys: a qualitative study

This study aimed to investigation effects of parental divorce on psychological empowerment in boys. The nature of present research is qualitative. The study population consisted of boys with divorced parents who are located in Shahryar. Purposive sampling was performed. Depth interviews were conducted with a total of 13 boys from families who live with their mother and had experienced divorce five or less years. Reduction and Interpretation which developed by Marshall and Rossman were utilized. This method includes sorting data in different classes and encode them. psychological empowerment was coded in five components: Sense of competence, sense of meaning, sense of belonging, , self- concept, sense of trust . also, factors affecting the psychological empowerment in boys who experienced parental divorce were classified in five dimensions. Includes: witnessed and / or were victims of parental violence either for many years prior to the separation, severe economic decline, their relations with parents after divorce, change in social network, theire perception of parents explelanation about divorce. It however seems reasonable for one to conclude that the negative impact of divorce on children can be large if they are exposed to parental arguments, conflicts and violence if they lack support from family and social network members, if they experience a sharp decline in their standard of living if they experience negative changes in relationships with their parent.