Exploring Divorce in Kerala

Abstract

Divorce is the permanent physical separation of spouses through a judicial declaration newline that releases marriage partners from all matrimonial obligations. There is a paucity of newline research in India to understand the consequences of divorce on families and children, newline while the rate of divorce is on the rise. The present study enables an understanding of newline the causes and effects of divorce on families and adolescents in Ernakulam district, newline Kerala State. A qualitative exploratory research design was used to explore insights newline into the events preceding divorce, the possible reasons for divorce, and the outcomes newline on the family as a whole, with an emphasis on the adolescent. The data was derived newline from interviews with 20 families and additionally, data was obtained from Principal newline Counsellors, Mediators and Advocates from the family court, Family Therapists, and newline Clinical Psychologists to understand the ecosystem of divorce in Kerala. Thematic newline analysis of the data showed that over involvement of families of origin, domestic newline violence, substance abuse, lack of emotional attachment, addiction to social newline networking, and out of marriage relationships, were the main causes of divorce. The newline intersectionality of gender, education and occupation emerged through the data. While newline all family members were negatively impacted by divorce, it affected women the most, newline followed by adolescents. Adolescents experienced physical, psychological and social newline problems. Parentification of adolescents was seen in the study. The data indicates the newline need for pre-marital and relationship counselling to deal with the aftermath of newline divorce. newline Key words: Divorce, Custodial and Noncustodial Parents, Adolescents, Divorced newline Families newline