“AYAH PERGI UNTUK KALIAN!”: FENOMENA YATIM PSIKOLOGIS DI KALANGAN GENERASI MUDA DI KOTA BANDUNG INDONESIA

Abstract

The fatherless phenomenon (the absence of a father in childcare) and its consequences for child development has become a worldwide problem. Various studies have found that fathers who are absent from the parenting process (educating, caring for, and paying attention to their children) are one of the key factors causing various psychological, cognitive, and social problems in children. This research is a phenomenological study, a qualitative research approach that looks at the similarities of life experiences experienced by a group of individuals. The informants in this study were parents (in the 45-55 age range) of four clients who encounter emotional problems; social interaction; school drop-out, online game addiction; gender dysphoria (inner conflict between physical birth and gender identity felt by sufferers), and pornography. The main objective of this research is to arrive at a description of the nature of the 'Yatim Psikologis' phenomenon or a deep understanding of the situation in Bandung Indonesia. Domain Analyses Method was used to analyze data obtained from four pairs of informants. The results of the study lead to the following conclusions: (1) the fathers’ strong desire to provide a decent life for the family; (2) the fathers’ level of understanding about their role in childcare according to their  religion and psychology; (3) the fathers’ or mothers’ readiness in accepting the presence of the child (4), the child’s birth order (4), and (5) the mother's parenting style are the reasons for the fathers’ absence in providing care and at the same time are the factors affecting the psychological condition of troubled young men in this research. Deeper and more focused studies on three scientific aspects: (1) spiritual, (2) the nature of human being, and (3) the psychosocial in the absence of the father theme are highly needed due to the fact that this phenomenon has been scientifically proven to be one of the key factors in weakening younger generation from all aspects.