Adversity Quotient on Single Mother

Cut Rizka Aliana

, Thobib Al-Asyhar

, Nurwahidin

Faculty of Psychology, UIN Ar-Raniry

Department of Islamic and Middle East, Universitas Indonesia

Keywords: Single Mother, Divorce, Widow, Adversity Quotient.

Abstract: Single mother is someone who loses a partner and is responsible for raising her children. Became a single

mother would have difficulties and problems and has a double role in the household (as a mother whose job

is to take care of the household as well as replace the figure of the husband as the breadwinner to overcome

the difficulties of life requires a special ability in the form of Adversity Intelligence. The aim of this study to

examine how the Adversity Quotient of single mothers in solving their daily challenges. The approach in

this study uses qualitative methods with purposive sampling techniques. Data analysis use in-depth

interview and observation were used to collect data from six single mothers (divorced and widow single

mother) that participated in this study. The results of this study showed that Adversity Quotient gave

positive contributions to help single mothers solving their daily challenges. In this study, divorce single

mothers were more likely to have better endurance than widow single mothers. As for distinguishing

adversity quotient between divorcee single mother and widow single mother is the endurance dimension.

Interestingly, all subjects have the same motivation in the form of providing proper education for their

children, so that single mother strives to realize that goal.

1 INTRODUCTION

Status of a single mother is not a preferable option

for all women. Some researches have indicated that

there is a wide range of problems that will be faced

by a single mother. This is due to the additional

burden they must endure to cover up the role or

replace a missing figure in a family. So the single

mother had to play double roles for the realization of

the family's prosperity and happiness. Some

problems that often caused by changes in the status

of being a single mother is, as mentioned by Papalia,

Olds, and Feldman (2009) that the experience of the

death of a spouse will have an impact on the onset of

a stressor that is much higher than with a divorce.

This is because the wife had lost her husband

suddenly without any preparation. Coupled with the

doubled roles a wife should endure being the head of

the family to replace the figure of her husband.

According to Cox (2002), a single mother would

face so many problems. In addition to economic

problems, single mothers also face social isolation.

Work, home maintenance and raising her children

normally make a single mother had very little time

to interact with their environment or other activities

that can build their selves. On the other hand, the

loss of a spouse can also give rise to feelings of

loneliness and helplessness to the single mother.

Emotional isolation from the loss of a spouse due to

divorce or death can increase due to the negative

stigma from society.

Based on the data of Perempuan Kepala

Keluarga (Pekka) and Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS)

Indonesia through Survei Sosial Ekonomi Nasional

(Susenas) from 2001 to 2007 there was an increasing

number of single-parent women by 0.1% annually,

with details as follows:

Table 1: Percentage of Single Mother in Indonesia.

Tahun

Persentase (%)

2001

< 13 %

2007

13,60 %

2013

31,88 %

Furthermore, a significant increase continues to

grow in 2013 to reach 31.88%. According to Badan

Pusat Statistik (BPS) Indonesia through Survei

Sosial Ekonomi Nasional (Susenas) in 2013

approximately 17.10% single mothers living in

urban areas, while the remaining 14.78% is a single

322

Aliana, C., Al Asyhar, T. and Nurwahidin, .

Adversity Quotient on Single Mother.

DOI: 10.5220/0009561603220327

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019), pages 322-327

ISBN: 978-989-758-448-0

mother who lives in the countryside. This data

indicating that the percentage of single mothers in

urban areas is higher than the single mothers in the

village. Data Pekka 2004 stated that more than half

of a single mother in Indonesia living in poverty.

The same thing also expressed by DeGenova (2008)

which is the common problem faced by single

mothers is the financial pressure that makes single

mother families are more likely to live in poverty

than families with a complete parent. The results of

the research showed that although a single mother

has a pretty good education, generally a single father

has a better economic state and family life than the

single mother has. In addition to facing economic

problems, the research McLanahan (in Zanden,

1993) compared the family of two parents with a

single mother family. The results showed that

single-mother families experience more stress than

families that are still intact.

Psychologically, being a single mother may pose

some psychological and social problems, such as

having to work twice as much as the absence of a

father figure, receive discrimination from the

environment, anxiety about the future of their

children, and so forth. To overcome some of the

difficulties and psychological problems that

happened to a single mother, toughness is needed,

which can be reviewed in psychology through

Adversity Quotientin a single mother to withstand

and overcome the difficulties of life.

But on the other hand, changes in the status of

being a single mother will not necessarily hurt the

family. A single mother can also be a challenge for

success, thus motivating a single mother to live a

better life. Some stories of a single mother at the

time of the Prophet also has illustrated that with the

persistence of a mother who works and raises her

children alone was able to break the negative

perception that often arises amongst the society.

Several lessons can be taken from this story is the

mother of Imam ash-Shafi'i is a single mother who

can educate, nurture and loved Imam ash-Shafi'i

until he became a great priest.

Besides, there are also several other stories of a

single mother being summarized in a book titled "the

single moms" which written directly by three

successful single mothers who are BudianaIndr stuti,

Mia Amalia and Ainun Chomsun. This book is about

the life of single-mother families who were able to

achieve success in building their careers and their

children's education. With two different facts that

occurred in the field of a single mother, there is a

single mother who is stuck in the problems

(economic, psychological and social), and a single

mother who successfully built her career and her

family well. This attracted the attention of

researchers to examine more in a single mother who

is successful in her career and educating her

children.

From the perspective of psychology, special

abilities that can help an individual to cope with the

difficulties of life can be achieved with Adversity

Quotientwhich is evaluated from four dimensions,

namely the control or restraint, endurance, range,

and ownership. Therefore, in this study, the

researcher wanted to uncover "how Adversity

Quotient of a single mother capable to make them

pass through the difficulties of life and achieve

success in career and educating their children".

Based on the above background, it can be

concluded that the motivation underlying the

necessity of this research are:

1. It gives an overview of how Adversity Quotient

of a single mother capable to make them

survive in the toughness and keeping up with

their lives.

2. As an additional reference to other single

mothers on how to be a tough individual.

Provide an overview of the public about how

the life of a single mother in the middle of a

struggle to build their career and educating their

children.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Stoltz (2005) defines Adversity Quotient is the

intelligence to overcome the difficulties.

According to Pulatie (Stoltz, 2005), the deeper

meaning of the Adversity Quotient is the theory

as well as substantially according to the size of a

set of instruments that aim to help people to

persevere in the face of various challenges. In

this study Adversity, Quotient is defined as the

individual's ability to use their intelligence to

steer, change thinking pattern and act so

persistent and confident in the face of obstacles

and difficulties. The dimensions of Adversity

Quotient according to Stoltz (2005) are as

follows:

a. Restrain/ control (C), is a dimension of

Adversity Quotient related to how many

individuals feel confident to overcome

every problem they faced.

b. Durability/ endurance (E), is a dimension

that describes an individual's perception

regarding how long it takes when

experiencing difficulties.

Adversity Quotient on Single Mother

323

c. Range/ reach (R), is part of Adversity

Quotient that questioning how far the

difficulties could reach another part of an

individual's life.

d. Owner/ origin and ownership (O2), is a

dimension that questioning who or what is

causing the difficulty and the extent to

which individuals consider themselves as a

source of these problems.

Several previous studies that discuss a single

mother are as follows:

a. Research from Pranandari in 2008 about

Adversity Quotient of a single mother. This

study aims to look at the extent of

Adversity Quotient in a single mother in

terms of problem-focused coping. The

focus of research that researchers will do is

on adversity intelligence in single female

parents in more depth by using qualitative

methods in the form of interviews. In

addition to the focus of problems and

different methodologies, in this study, the

researcher also focused the research subject

on a single parent of women who managed

to overcome the problem by the specific

characteristics of the study.

b. Research by Hasan Mawardi (2007) in the

form of a thesis explains the influence of

Islamic counseling against Adversity

Quotient and Spiritual Intelligence ODHA.

In contrast to the research conducted by

Hasan Mawardi above, the research the

researcher will undertake does not provide

special treatment to the research subjects.

Research researchers only reveal in-depth

how the adversity intelligence and patience

of a single mother conducted by in-depth

interviews with natural situations (without

special settings).

c. Research on resilience in single mothers

after divorce conducted by Dewindra Ayu

Kartika in 2012. This study which using

qualitative methods explained on issues

such as economic, practical, family, sexual,

social and residence. In this study also

explained about the depiction of resilience

and the factors that affect the achievement

of the resilience of a single mother after the

divorce. This study also explained the

picture of resilience and the factors that

influence the achievement of resilience in

single mothers after divorce. While the

research focus of researchers is adversity

intelligence and patience on single mothers

who are successful in their careers and

educating their children.

3 RESEARCH METHOD

Types and research approach. This study used

qualitative research with a phenomenological

approach to understanding the problems of the

individual in social context to present a complete

and complex depiction without any intervention

from the researcher (Creswell, 2007).

Data Collection Techniques. The procedure of

the subject's selection in this study was purposeful

sampling that defines the subject based on the

characteristics relevant to the objectives of the study

(Herdiansyah, 2010). Through this purposive

method, the subject is taken based on the opinion of

the researcher who roughly meets the criteria

according to the research's theme and is willing to let

their data being learned. The criteria used in this

study are female, status single mother because of

divorce or loss of spouse, working to support their

family's needed, have children and capable to pay

for her children's school, being a single mother for

minimum 5 years, willing to be the subject of study

and signed the informed consent.

Instrument. The instrument used is a list of

research questions that include Adversity Quotient

compiled based on the dimensions of Stoltz (2005).

The questions were posed openly by the researcher

to the subjects and being adjusted in relevance to the

subject's answer to find depth and complete data.

The process of data analysis. Analysis of the data

used in this study followed the stage of research

analysis phenomenology, namely:

a. Create a transcript of the recorded interview of

six (6) subjects into written form.

b. Perform data reduction, the data that has been

transcripted then being analyzed verbatim

(verbatim analysis) in the form of group

sentences whiches considered to represent and

relevant to the research's indicators. Here the

researcher had classified the subject's answers

into three categories, namely cognitive,

affective and psychomotor.

c. Perform data presentation (display data), the

researcher compiled the results of data

reduction that have been done before in the

form of a chart or table to form a series of

meaningful information and relevant to the

research's problems studied.

d. The last was made a conclusion or verification

of all data that have been obtained from each of

ICPsy 2019 - International Conference on Psychology

324

the studies reviewed dimensions. This stage

can be interpreted as a withdrawal of the

meaning of the data that has been shown.

4 RESEARCH FINDINGS

The The following researcher will describe the

profile of subjects in general to give an overview of

research that has been done.

The general profile of the six subjects of this

study are as follows:

The study was conducted through interviews and

observation methods against 6 (six) subjects with the

following profile:

Table 2: Data Subject Identity.

Initial

Subjek

Age (years)

Religion

Islam

Education

SMA

Profession

Cake

busine

ssman

Private

secreta

Assist

ant

Hous

ekeep

ing

Lectu

rer

Babys

iter

PNS

Domisili

Jakarta

Aceh

Numberof

children

Marriage

year

1988

1993

1995

1981

1999,

2007

1986

The year

became

Single

Mother

2005

2001

1997

1999

2004,

2008

1996

Long been

a Single

Mother

(years)

Causesof

Single

Mother

Cerai

Hidup

Cerai

Mati

Cerai

Hidup

Cerai

Mati

Cerai

Hidup

Cerai

Mati

For the analysis of the subjects, researcher

discuss the situation of Adversity Quotient of six

research subjects. Depiction of each subject’s

Adversity Quotient will be discussed based on the

theory of Stoltz (2005) about the dimensions of

Adversity Quotientcovering restrain or control,

durability (endurance), range (reach) and ownership

(origin and owner).

5 RESEARCH RESULT

5.1 Adversity Quotient Analysis

5.1.1 Dimension of Restrain or Control

Generally, the six subjects were able to control the

hardship experienced. Only the ability to control the

hardships of life on the subject NA, RP and HN

better than the three other subjects.As Stoltz (2005)

states that restrain or control of the person closely

associated with how individuals feel in control of the

difficulties encountered.

Next, the striking findings of the restraint or

control dimension here are the similarity of

motivation in the six subjects that require them to

keep trying to make it happen. The motivation is for

the benefit of their children's education. The entire

research subjects felt that for the sake of children's

education, they try to always control themselves, so

they can be strong enough to face every difficulty.

5.1.2 Dimension of Durability (Endurance)

Optimism and hope for a better and a strong passion

to strive in all subjects in this study by the statement

of Stoltz (2005) that an individual who has a

dimension of good durability is an individual who

has hope and optimism to overcome adversity or

challenge being faced.

On the subject NA, YH and EN, their greatest

hope to be able to provide good education to their

children has encouraged them of its own, hence

three subjects developed an optimistic attitude to try

harder to meet those expectations. While on the

subject RP, being able to specify her existence

within an organization has become a way that helps

to create a better life expectancy. So RP uses the

opportunity to join the organization to develop

optimism and enthusiasm in working hard.

5.1.3 Dimension of Range (Reach)

During living as a single mother, all sixth

subjects can specifically assess the burden of life

they've experienced and limited them, so they will

not affect the other side of life. As stated by Stoltz

(2005) that dimension associated with the range of

Adversity Quotient on Single Mother

325

live load ratings so that the problems encountered

are not reaching all aspects of life.

5.1.3 Dimension of Ownership (Owner and

Origin)

Sixth subjects agreed that their role as a single

mother is a choice that must be followed so that the

six subjects did not blame themselves as the cause

for the difficulties experienced. Stoltz (2005) says

that the dimensions of ownership include the origin

which is the extent to which individuals consider

themselves to be the cause of the trouble. And

ownership is the ability of individuals who are not

blaming themselves too much and take

responsibility for overcoming the difficulties. The

fifth subject's ability to overcome every problem and

responsibility illustrates that the five subjects had a

good quality of ownership. Based on these findings,

the researcher found that there is a difference of AQ

between the subject who experience divorced and

those who experience loss spouse in Jakarta and

Aceh. Table 3 is shown the difference.

Table 3: Comparison Matrix Single Mother.

Psychological

Aspects

Divorced

Loss Spouse

Adversity

Quotient

Divorced

single mother

have better

durability

because they

already

predict and

prepare for the

worst

Single

mothers who

lose spouse

have a lower

resistance

because it

takes a long

time to

overcome the

difficulties

Table 4: Comparison Matrix Single Mother by Domicile

(Jakarta and Aceh).

Psychological

Aspects

Jakarta

Aceh

Adversity

Quotient

A single

mother who

lives in Jakarta

tend to have to

try harder to

make ends

meet, had less

mercy of God

A single

mother who

lives in Aceh

felt a lot of

God's grace,

and feel a lot

of wonders

and

conveniences

in life

On the subject who experienced divorce in

marriage have endurance better than single mother

who experienced loss spouse. This is because a

single mother who divorced already has several

considerations and predictions to prepare for life

decisions taken, in contrast to a single mother who

loss spouse need more time to overcome the

difficulties of life after being left by her husband.

This results in the durability of single mother

divorced dead lower than the resistance of a single

mother divorced alive. Next to the single mother

who lives in Jakarta, the ability to survive is heavier

than a single mother who lives in Aceh, so that in

terms of intelligence, a single mother's adversity in

Aceh is more likely to receive God's grace so that

many get miracles and conveniences felt during their

roles as single mother. This correlates to the

adversity intelligence of single mothers in Aceh that

feels more spiritual than the intelligence of single

mother adversities in Jakarta.

6 CONCLUSION

This study proves that the single mother both as a

consequence of divorce alive or dead divorce tends

to have a pretty good Adversity Quotient. This is

evident from the ability of the six subjects who

successfully pass all the difficulties of life with

strong and full responsibility. The factors that

influence Adversity Quotient in each subject is a

belief (faith) that these are the fate from God that

must be followed, with the hopes that this will lead

to a better life. On the other side, a single mother of

the divorced die has a better extent of controlling

emotional compared with divorced single mother. It

is due to bad past experiences by a single mother

divorced coming through, so they still have the

anger to revenge on ex-husband. In terms of

domicile, a single mother in Aceh can feel inner and

outer peace compared to a single mother in Jakarta.

er adversities in Jakarta.

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