Challenges faced by distant parented adolescent girls in Chiredzi South Constituency of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study aimed to establish the challenges of the distant parented adolescent girls in the Chiredzi South Constituency of Zimbabwe. The phenomenon focused on the challenges that distant-parented adolescent girls go through in the absence of migrant parents. The bio-ecological systems theory underpinned the study to bring to the fore the role of different environmental systems surrounding a distant parented adolescent in her development. Qualitative methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation were used. The study employed a purposive sampling approach to select the twenty-five (25) distant parented adolescent girls participating in the focus group discussions and interviews from five secondary schools. Data were collected and recorded. A thematic analysis was used. Some of the findings were that the distant-parented adolescent girl lacks parental care and support, lackss access to remittances and delayed remittances, wrong choice of friends, poor relationships between them and the migrant parents, and barriers to learning. Based on the findings, the study recommends distant parenting parents should continue to fulfill their roles as parents to their left-behind adolescent girls. Parents should also know their foreign-parented adolescent girls’ friends as some friends may influence them into engaging in anti-social behavior.