Cohabitation families have become a widely accepted and increasing form of family structure
nowadays. However this family structure’s characteristics have caused it to be described as a
risk factor to child development as it is associated it with negative child outcomes especially
during the adolescence period. The adolescence stage itself has been described by literature
as a unique human development stage coupled with a variety of physical, cognitive, social
and emotional changes, making it a vulnerable stage characterised by experimenting with risk
behaviours. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore and describe the challenges of
cohabiting families with regard to discipline of the adolescents. An explorative and
descriptive research design grounded in a qualitative research approach was used. Two set of
data, namely (a) cohabiting biological parents, and (b) adolescent children living in
cohabiting families, were collected for a better understanding of the situation.
The population for the study encompassed all cohabiting parents and their adolescent children
living in the city of Cape Town, and research participants were purposively selected from the
caseload of Cape Town Child Welfare. Data was collected by means of individual interviews
with the aid of an interview guide. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and field notes were
taken. Data analysis was conducted according to Tesch (in Creswell 2009), and ethical
considerations, such as confidentiality, voluntary participation, informed consent from
parents and informed assent from adolescents, as well as no harm to participants, were
adhered to. Most participants identified with cohabiting step-parent families. The reported
challenges affecting discipline of adolescent children stemmed from poor parent-child
relationships, ambiguous step-family roles, negative family communication patterns, and the
applied disciplinary methods in cohabiting families. With consultation from some of the
suggestions put forward by all the participants, the researcher concluded the study with
recommendations for social workers working with cohabiting families.