Single Parents Digital Communication Support and Mental Resilience of Final Year Migrant Students

Authors

  • Diah Agung Esfandari Universitas Telkom, Indonesia; Jl. Telekomunikasi No.1, Sukapura, Kec. Dayeuhkolot, Kabupaten Bandung, Jawa Barat 40257
  • Alviroza Alviroza Universitas Telkom, Indonesia; Jl. Telekomunikasi No.1, Sukapura, Kec. Dayeuhkolot, Kabupaten Bandung, Jawa Barat 40257

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21111/ettisal.v11i2.32

Keywords:

interpersonal communication, parents-children, emotional bonds, pesantren, santri

Abstract

The development of digital communication has transformed family interaction patterns, particularly among families experiencing geographical separation due to higher education mobility. This study aims to analyze the role of digital communication support provided by single parents in strengthening the mental resilience of final-year migrant students facing academic pressure during thesis completion. This research employed an interpretive qualitative approach with a case study design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, non-participant observations, and documentation involving seven informants consisting of three final-year migrant students, three single parents, and one psychology expert. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis through coding, categorization, and interpretation based on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), family communication, and resilience theory. The findings reveal that digital communication through WhatsApp, voice calls, and video calls functions not only as a medium of information exchange but also as an emotional space that provides psychological support. Digital communication support contributes to emotional presence, motivational reinforcement, emotional regulation, and coping mechanisms for students in dealing with academic pressure. This study confirms that communication quality has a stronger influence than communication frequency in strengthening family closeness and students’ mental resilience.  

References

Baines, A., Ittefaq, M., & Abwao, M. (2021). Social media for social support: A study of international graduate students in the United States. Journal of International Students, 12(2), 457–477. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v12i2.3158

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and Design Thinking for Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000196

Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (2021). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 147(2), 211–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000327

Creswell, J W, & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). SAGE Publishing.

Creswell, John W, & Poth, C. N. (2023). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications.

Denckla, C. A., Cicchetti, D., Kubzansky, L. D., Seedat, S., Teicher, M. H., Williams, D. R., & Koenen, K. C. (2020). Psychological resilience: An update on definitions, a critical appraisal, and research recommendations. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1822064. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1822064

Flick, U. (2022). An introduction to qualitative research (7th ed.). SAGE Publications. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books/about/An_Introduction_to_Qualitative_Research.html?id=RR1tEAAAQBAJ

Haimson, O. L., Delmonaco, D., Nie, P., & Wegner, A. (2021). Digital communication and relational maintenance in geographically separated relationships. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(5), 289–305. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmab012

Hasanah, N., Putri, A. M., & Rahman, F. (2024). Social support and academic resilience among university students facing academic pressure. Journal of Educational, Health and Community Psychology, 13(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.12928/jehcp.v13i1.

Ikhwaningrum, R., Tentama, F., & Sari, E. Y. D. (2022). Social support and academic resilience among university students. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 11(4), 1755–1762. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v11i4.22934

Kallio, H., Pietilä, A.-M., Johnson, M., & Kangasniemi, M. (2016). Systematic methodological review: Developing a framework for a qualitative semi-structured interview guide. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(12), 2954–2965. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13031

Meier, A., & Reinecke, L. (2021). Computer-mediated communication, social media, and mental health: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmaa014

Rashid, S., Fayez, O., Ismail, H., & Khan, R. F. (2021). Digital social support for undergraduate students during COVID-19: Pivotal support for the digital transformation. Journal of Public Health Research, 10(4), 2148. https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2021.2148

Said, A. N., Rahmawati, S., & Supraba, D. (2021). Hubungan antara dukungan sosial dengan resiliensi akademik pada mahasiswa rantau yang sedang mengerjakan skripsi. Jurnal Psikologi Tabularasa, 16(2), 95–105. https://doi.org/10.26905/jpt.v16i2.

Syahruninnisa, M., Yusuf, M., & Nurhayati, S. (2022). Social support as a predictor of academic resilience among university students. Jurnal Psikologi Pendidikan Dan Konseling, 8(2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.26858/jppk.v8i2.

Vaterlaus, J. M., Frantz, K., & Robecker, T. (2021). Family communication in the digital age: Technology use and relational outcomes. Journal of Family Communication, 21(3), 180–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.1931635

Walther, J. B. (2021). Computer-mediated communication and virtual groups: Applications and implications. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(2), 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmab002

Walther, J. B., & Whitty, M. T. (2021). Language, psychology, and new new media: The hyperpersonal model of mediated communication at twenty-five years. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 40(1), 120–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20967703

Wendt, R., & Langmeyer, A. N. (2021). Computer-mediated communication and child/adolescent friendship quality after residential relocation. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30, 2890–2902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02102-2

Wowor, M., Sary, D., & Putri, A. (2024). Family communication in motivating Papuan migrant students to pursue higher education in Jakarta. PERSPEKTIF: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Humaniora.

Yin, R. K. (2023). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (7th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Zhou, J., & Yu, H. (2021). Contribution of social support to home-quarantined Chinese college students’ well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of online learning self-efficacy and moderating role of anxiety. Social Psychology of Education, 24, 1643–1662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-021-09665-4

Submitted

2026-02-09

Accepted

2026-11-04

Published

2026-11-03

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2026): Ettisal : Journal of Communication

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Diah Agung Esfandari, Alviroza Alviroza

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Ettisal: Journal of Communication is committed to the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

All articles published in Ettisal are open access and freely available online immediately upon publication, without any subscription or access fees. Readers are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided that the use is non-commercial and the original source is properly cited.

All works published in Ettisal: Journal of Communication are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
This means:

  • Users may share (copy and redistribute) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes.

  • Appropriate credit must be given to the author(s) and the journal, a link to the license must be provided, and any derivative works must be distributed under the same license.

  • Commercial use of the published material is not permitted without prior written consent from the author(s) and the journal.

Authors retain full copyright to their work and grant Ettisal: Journal of Communication the right of first publication. Authors may also deposit their published articles in institutional repositories or personal websites, acknowledging the journal as the original place of publication.

Through this open access policy, Ettisal: Journal of Communication aims to promote ethical scholarship, knowledge dissemination, and public engagement with communication studies worldwide.