中華心理衛生協會

The purpose of this research is to investigate the intergenerational ambivalent experiences between parents and adult offspring. In-depth interview of qualitative approach and paired research method were adopted. After interviewing 15 participants in 3 families, the similarities and differences of their intergenerational ambivalent experiences were integrated. The major findings are summarized as following:For a male parent, he had contradictions of ”compromise or limit” when facing his sons-in-law or daughters-in-law. He felt contradictions of ”culture norm or affectionate intimacy” when he had interactions with his daughters and daughters-in-law. These phenomena are the most common experiences.There are four phenomena as their common experiences in maternal parents: ”an unwilling acceptance” in the marriage of their descents, ”the anxiety about the living arrangement when aging”, ”the sigh of the changes of times”, and ”compromise or limit” when interacting with their daughters-in-law.For a male descent, he made effort to merge into his wife's family, but they did not view him as one of them. He had ”loyalty conflicts” between his original family and his married family. These phenomena are the most evident common experiences.For a female descent, there are six common intergenerational ambivalent experiences. First, she had a sense of guilt of ”unfulfilled intentions” about lack of close interaction with her own parents after marriage. Second, she had also a sense of guilt of ”unperformed responsibilities” about filial duty to parents-in-law. Third, she had contradictions of ”connection or conflict” about living with her elder family members. Forth, she had contractions of ”self-willing or limit” as well as compromises of ”self-willing or the pressures of compliance” when living with her parents-in-law. Fifth, there are difficulties in balancing ”dependence or independence” for family members' assistance. Finally, she had ”loyalty conflict” between different family systems.The contributions of the results are discussed and further researches are also suggested.