男性單親求助歷程之求助角色探討

Abstract

Mead（1934）的象徵互動論認為個人經常會經由角色就位（role taking）的過程瞭解社會也認識自我。他認為在複雜的社會活動中，每個人皆有兩個自我，一為社會因素所產生之自我，另一為自我意識產生之自我，兩個自我會相互影響，並隨著不同的社會需要而呈現不同的角色面貌。本研究以象徵互動論的角色理論為分析架構，探討男性單親在求助歷程中面臨的角色適應困難、求助角色就位情形以及自我對求助角色的詮釋，透過立意選樣的方式，採用質性研究的深度訪談法，訪談五位進入正式支持體系未超過半年或曾短暫接觸正式支持體系的單親爸爸，瞭解他們在求助歷程中的角色經驗。研究結果發現以下結論：男性單親普遍面臨角色負荷與角色衝突的適應問題、求助角色仍受到傳統性別角色文化的束縛、求助角色賦予為父則強的自我詮釋，在自我詮釋中，男性單親願意為了讓小孩有更好的生活，或是在生活現實的考量下，調整心態妥協自我成為求助者。依據上述研究結果，本研究提出幾點建議：加強實務工作者的性別敏感度、跳脫傳統改以家務生產為勞動力的新思維、瞭解經濟弱勢男性單親被排除在正式支持體系之外的求助困境，制訂出合時宜的社會福利制度，在福利項目的設計上將實務狀況納入審核的考量，讓政策理想與現實環境的差距可以縮到最小，以此作為政策規劃與實務運作的參考。

In the thinking of symbolic interactionism, Mead(1934) argued that an individual often understood the society and self through the role taking. Due to the complexity of social activities, an individual developed two sides of self, the “I” and the “me.”The “me” represented the expectations and attitudes of others’, the generalized other. The “I” is the response to the “me” or the person’s individuality. Through the two interacting and influencing each other, an individual behaved accordingly to the different expectations of the society. Male single parents have been under-representative among help seekers toward social welfare agencies. Based on the theory of symbolic interactionism, this study explores what kind of difficulties male single parents experience when taking the role of social welfare help-seekers. Due to the complexity of the phenomenon, this study adopted a qualitative approach using indepth interviewing as data collecting methods. This study interviewed five male single parents who once sought needy assistance toward social welfare agencies. They were referred by social workers from social welfare agencies. They were helped with a history of less than half years who could still remember the help-seeking experience back then. Results indicated that male single parents interviewed expressed the stress of role overload and experienced difficulties of help seeking in terms of role taking as help-seekers. In role interpretation, the internal minds shaped by traditional culture or norm of male role, male single parents experienced internal conflicts to seek help from social welfare agencies. But economic stress and child care burden force them to seek help outside when informal social assistance was used up or unavailable. They explained the help-seeking as compromising and adjusting from an independent role as males in Chinese culture toward a caring and responsible father to his child best interest. Implications and suggestions are included to call for a more male friendly social welfare system.