Influence of Parental Divorce on Anxiety Level of Adolescents

Abstract

Family divorce might have an effect on some aspects of child development. Adolescence as a transitional stage is marked by process of seeking identity, the need for intimate rela- tionship, as well as the struggle for psychological independence from family. Anxiety is defined as a state of extreme worry, fear, and uncertainty which results from the expecta- tion of a threatening event or situation. The aims of study are: to explore the differences in anxiety levels among adolescents from divorced and intact families; to explore the level of anxiety of adolescents from divorced and intact families with respect to their genders. A demographic questionnaire was created and The Beck Anxiety Inventory was applied to measure anxiety. The scale was applied with 162 participants who were cho- sen randomly from 5 different high schools in Istanbul province. The study found out that there are statistically significant differences in anxiety level of adolescents between children from divorced and intact families. Descriptive measures are in range as follows: (17.67 ± 9.645). The adolescents from divorced families had a higher level of anxiety (t = 17.322; p < .05). The result related to the second study aim shows that there are no statistically significant differences in anxiety between male and female adolescents from divorced