Three-generational households: A case study on the relational resources and the church as agent of socialization amidst community-based trauma on the Cape Flats

This research study investigates the impact of community-based trauma on the relational resources of trust, loyalty, guilt, and legacy within three-generational households, as well as the influence of the church as an agent of socialization on the Cape Flats. The study was conducted in the field of practical theology, with a specific orientation toward the subfield of pastoral care and counselling. There remains a paucity of research on the actual relational realities experienced by families residing on the Cape Flats amidst the daily plight of community-based trauma and violence. In the same breath, the church as a spiritual institution is often considered by these families as a communal home. The church holds the power to influence how individuals and families cope with and respond to community-based trauma. The research problem was addressed both theoretically and empirically. The study advocated for an improved understanding of complex household family structures, such as three-generational families, with a specific emphasis on strengthening this understanding within the arena of pastoral care. The objective of the research was to formulate academic content and pastoral praxis contributions that can be utilized by pastoral caregivers or ministers in their capacity. The researcher employed a transformative approach to the research procedure and made use of a qualitative research method by conducting cross-generational focus groups with threegenerational households recruited from the UCCSA in the areas of Mitchells Plain, Langa, and Delft. Six three-generational family households served as co-researchers, comprising 24 participants. The data collected was analysed using thematic analysis. The Dialogical Intergenerational Pastoral Process (DIPP) served as the theoretical framework. This research project encompassed deep existential reflection, theological and relational investigation, and the DIPP provided guidance in interpreting the findings. The results of the study reflected that the three-generational family household is a sacred social unit and should have the agency to define and decide what family means to them. They should not be burdened with the social normative expectation of considering the nuclear family as relationally key to existing family structures. It was found that trust, loyalty, guilt, and legacy are impacted by community-based trauma but are also strengthened by the relational support received in the home and the spiritual interconnectedness with an ever-present God. The church, as an agent of socialization transmitting social and spiritual ways of living and interacting in the world to threegenerational families, should remain introspective about whether what it transmits is constructive. The church remains, for many families, a trusted sanctuary and source of support, and this should not be taken for granted. Furthermore, the ability to find meaning in everyday family life and their legacies of hope and posterity is often grounded in the communal life of the church. Though community-based trauma is continuous on the Cape Flats, balanced and fair relational well-being and the enhancement of relational resources serve as a buffer against this reality and allow for growth amidst challenging circumstances. The study provided pastoral caregivers and ministers with tangible insight into the lives of three-generational households. This study advocates for a different approach to living with the reality of community-based trauma and a realization that family life, community trauma, and the socialization of the church have one thing in common: they are realities that are deeply relational, theological, and faith-enquiring. All of these themes ask us to reflect on how relational ethics between oneself, others, and God manifest in our being and doing in individual lives, families, and communities on the Cape Flats.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Roberths-Beyers, Tamlynn Jane

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thesnaar, Christo H.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135898

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135898