Untangling absence: left behind adolescents' interpretive meaning construction of parental migration in Zimbabwe.

PURPOSE: This study investigates how left-behind adolescents in Zimbabwe construct meaning around parental migration-a prevalent outcome of global economic shifts and professional emigration in the Global South. METHOD: Guided by existentialist theory and employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study engaged 14 adolescents aged 13-17 who had experienced the migration of at least one parent for at least two years. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, allowing participants to articulate their lived experiences and meaning-making processes. RESULTS: Five key experiential themes emerged: (1) disrupted emotional security, (2) forced maturity, (3) ambivalence toward migration, (4) identity reconstruction, and (5) adaptive resilience. Participants actively engaged in emotional, cognitive, and social strategies to navigate parental absence. These included emotional detachment, reframing hardship as growth, reliance on peer support and faith, and expressions of emotional fatigue and unresolved longing. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reveal that left-behind adolescents are not passive recipients of familial disruption but demonstrate active meaning-making efforts. These insights call for psychosocial interventions prioritizing adolescent agency and existential coping strategies. Policy and programming should focus on strengthening emotional support systems, improving digital connectivity with migrant parents, and integrating existential frameworks into adolescent well-being initiatives and child welfare policies.