Understanding the Maternal Meaning and Experience of Separation: A Phenomenological Study

The study of the prevalence of divorce and the increase of single parent families, aside from structural and objective study, requires the study of the mentality of the agents with a focus on gender. Due to having children to care about, women as head of families experience special circumstances both regarding separation and also facing its consequences. Up until now the assumption has been that children play an important role in maintaining married relationships, but the current picture regarding the situation of the separation of women and men and the formation of single-headed families depicts a different notion. The current study has been conducted in search of the meaning of separation and its contextual-mental changes from the viewpoint of mothers with a focus on maternal identity. The phenomenological study has been done qualitatively, and the data collection method has been semi-structured interviews with twenty mothers who have experienced separation. Data analysis has been done using the Colaizzi method, and the results are that separation takes place following women’s change of mentality regarding family life, the increase of importance regarding human/feminine identity, and care regarding the children’s well-being. Unpleasant marriages unable to provide for the women’s needs propels them to break free from a chronic and painful situation. The core of women’s personalities being constantly threatened, and their trust and self-esteem being destroyed leads them in search of a way to exit this situation. In this path, children are still an important factor in the women’s lives, however, not as a maintaining factor, but as a factor of restoration of identity. The children’s well-being is a strong incentive to omit the father from family life and to form female-headed families