離家過程中親子關係的離與合：分離個體化與依戀品質對親子關係滿意度的影響

Abstract

親子關係中個體尋求獨立自主與情感聯繫這兩股力量的平衡，最有利於青少年發展與適應的論點，近來已獲得普遍的理論及實證研究支持。而過去的探討皆著重於青少年個體的適應，鮮少關注對親子關係的影響。離家的狀態提供了一個自然的親子分離情境，使得分離個體化的課題更為突顯，同時親子關係也面臨一個重構的歷程。對台灣本地強調情感連結的親子關係而言，分離與連結這兩股力量的交互作用會如何影響離家中的親子關係，是本研究最主要的議題。 本研究以分離個體化與依戀品質分別來概念化親子關係中「離」與「合」兩股力量，試圖描繪這兩股力量對親子關係所造成的影響。研究假設分離個體化中的一般獨立會對親子關係產生負面的影響，然而若能以親子間的情感連結為基礎，將能有效降低分離為親子關係所帶來的不良影響，也就是說，依戀品質在一般獨立與親子關係滿意度的關係中有調節效果。並且假設親子間實際進行的互動具有中介效果，使得親子間抽象的依戀品質，能在關係中發揮作用。 本研究包含研究一與研究二。研究一主要驗證依戀品質在一般獨立對親子關係的影響中之緩衝效果。研究二除了再次確認研究一的結果，更進一步檢驗親子互動對依戀品質緩衝效果的中介歷程。本研究發現個體獨立行為雖會影響親子關係，然而若能以親子間的情感連結為基礎，將能有效降低分離對親子關係的不良影響，使得分離與連結兩股力量達到平衡。此外，依戀關係乃是透過親子間多方面且頻繁、立即的互動，而發揮其緩衝效果的假設亦獲得支持。

Research has shown that an individual who could well balance between independence and emotional bonding in his/her parent-child relationship has relatively better development and adjustment. However, past literature on separation-individuation focused mainly on individual’s psychological adjustments rather than on its effects on parent-child relationships. The current study argued that adolescents’ leaving home to college provides a natural circumstance to examine this process. On the one hand, the separation between parents and children highlights the issue of separation-individuation. On the other hand, the parent-child relationship also faces a process of reconstruction to maintain their relationships. In Taiwan, the cultural emphasize on emotional bonding in parent-child relationships makes this issue especially significant, the present study was to investigate how the interaction effect of these two forces would affect the parent-child relationship for adolescents away from home. The present study adopted separation-individuation and attachment quality to conceptualize the “separation” and “unification” forces in parent-child relationship and to illustrate they join forces on parent-child relationship. It was hypothesized that the individuation would have a negative effect on parent-child relationship. However, if the relationship is able to provide a solid emotional bonding, the negative effects from individuation would be diminished. That is, attachment quality serves as a moderator on the relationship between individuation and parent-child relationship satisfaction. In addition, it was also hypothesized that actual social interactions between parent and child mediated the buffering effect of attachment quality on the parent-child relationship satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to examine these hypotheses. Study 1 investigated the buffering effect of attachment quality on the negative relationship between individuation and parent-child relationship satisfaction. Study 2 replicated the results of study 1, and further examined the mediation effect of actual social interactions to see if actual social interactions would mediate the buffering effect of attachment quality on the parent-child relationship satisfaction. Results showed that although individuation had negative effect on parent-child relationship satisfaction, however, the stronger the emotional bonding in the parent-child relationship , the weaker negative effect was observed. These results highlighted the “balance” between separation and unification forces. Furthermore, the mediation effect of actual interaction on the buffering effect of attachment quality was also significant.