A comparative study of the difficulties and strengths of single-parent, orphan, and ordinary adolescents

Given the arising number of single-parent and orphan adolescents and the related issues, the present study was conducted to compare the strengths and difficulties of single-parent, orphan, and ordinary adolescents among first-grade high school students in Urmia city, Iran.

The method used in the present study was causal-comparative. Among the adolescents of Urmia and according to Morgan table, 380 first-grade high school students in the second academic semester of 2018-2019 were selected using multistage cluster sampling. Twenty five single-parent adolescents were identified. In order to select orphan adolescents living at “Home for children” according to Morgan table using simple stochastic sampling, 59 cases were selected. Data collected through children and adolescents’ Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) designed in 1997 by Goodman. MANOVA and LSD post hoc test were used to analyze the results.

The index of difficulties and strengths had a significant difference in these 3 groups (P<0.01). According to the mean of the three groups for emotional sign variables and conduct problems, it was concluded that single-parent adolescents’ group got higher scores compared to ordinary and orphan groups (P<0.05).

It seems that single-parent adolescents in emotional sign variables and conduct problems had worse conditions compared to orphan and ordinary adolescents.