The Emotional Development of Teenagers with the Father Gone Abroad

Abstract

The problem of teenagers who have parents working abroad is part of the Romanian social reality and has become more and more visible. The actual severity of the phenomenon is justified in terms of multiple effects on the health and psycho-socio-educational development of children left at home. It is well known that the family is one of the basic pillars of the child’s psycho-social development, and the deprivation of the presence of parents leads to unhealthy consequences and various vulnerabilities for children. A sample of 60 adolescents (30 boys and 30 girls), aged between 13 and 16 years old, was assessed with Freiburg Personality Inventory and Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-2). Our hypotheses assumed the existence of differences between teenagers who are part of typical families and those who have left the father in terms of emotional stability, nervousness, anxiety, and depression. All hypotheses were confirmed, with higher scores of the variables for the sample of adolescents with the fathers gone abroad. Results are discussed in terms of implications on psychological counselling, social and economic policies.