Uncertainty as Organizing Principle of Action—Teenagers Living with Parental Somatic Illness

Abstract

Uncertainty as condition for teenage life when confronted with parental serious illness is presented as the main challenge characterizing this situation. Based on the teenagers own accounts narrated in 26 semi-structured interviews, we are able to provide an analytical description of important ways in which parental illness affects every-day life of the teenager. Findings suggest various changes and challenges in family roles and caring patterns, emotional oscillation, changes in relation to peers, and conflicting motives and tasks. These changes are linked to the impact of the uncertainties of the illness situation. A model of uncertainty is proposed which illustrates how various events feed into the underlying uncertainty and fear of losing the parent. The model thus addresses the situation, where the teenagers are compelled to making firm divisions between a private-life world and a social-life world as well as between a family-life zone and a youth-life zone.

Keywords

parental illness illness phases uncertainty emotional oscillation teenagers

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