THE PERCEPTION OF PROBLEM-SITUATIONS BY S INGLE-PARENT MOTHERS - A COMPARISON OF A QUESTIONNAIRE-STUDY AND AN INTERVIEW-STUDY

For counselling single parents it is necessary to know their perceptio n of specific problem situations and the factors influencing the perce ption of stress in typical problem situations. It therefore was the ai m of the present study to examine the question of whether there are ty pical problem situations perceived by single parent mothers and of whi ch kind they are, and whether there are factors to be identified which increase the probability of perceiving a typical problem situation as stressful. Data from 60 single parent mothers who had answered a ques tionaire and from 91 single parent mothers who had participated in an interview study were compared. The data were analyzed by cluster analy sis and multiple regression analysis. Both studies identified three co mparable groups who differed in the intensity of perception of stress in specific problem situations. In both studies the identified groups differed in their educational level, Mothers with a low educational le vel perceived the situation of single parentship as most stressful. Fr om the results we conclude that counselling has to aim at changing att itudes and strategies usually correlate with a low educational level a nd inhibit coping with single parentship.