Faith, family, and stigma after parental divorce: psychological well-being among Indonesian Muslim adolescent girls

Abstract

Parental divorce can disrupt adolescents’ identity, security, and belonging. In Muslim-majority Indonesia, divorce is also interpreted through cultural expectations of family unity, filial respect, family reputation, and religious meaning. These meanings may intensify stigma, but they may also provide adolescents with moral language for patience, hope, and self-restraint. This study explored how Indonesian Muslim adolescent girls make sense of psychological well-being after parental divorce, with attention to Islamic cultural meanings, family relationships, stigma, and coping. This qualitative original research used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 Muslim adolescent girls aged 14–15 years who had experienced parental divorce for at least one year. Participants were recruited purposively from a junior high school in Bekasi City, Indonesia. Interviews were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated for reporting, and analyzed through idiographic case-by-case interpretation, cross-case theme development, reflexive journaling, and researcher consensus. Four superordinate themes were identified: negotiating loss and self-acceptance after family rupture; relational ecosystems as both protection and vulnerability; moving from reactive survival toward purposeful autonomy; and Islamic cultural context and moral meaning-making. Participants described divorce as more than a family event. It became a public and moral experience shaped by the label of “broken home,” expectations to respect parents, fear of gossip, and the wish to remain a good Muslim daughter. In this single-school qualitative study, psychological well-being after parental divorce among Indonesian Muslim adolescent girls was shaped by emotional, relational, cultural, and religious processes. These findings suggest that school and community support should address stigma and emotional distress while engaging respectfully with Islamic family values in context-specific ways.