中年世代的家人關係與生活滿意度

Effects of Family Relationships on Life Satisfaction of Middle-aged Generation

有鑑於中年世代較少受到研究關注、生活滿意度低落、關注家庭，於是本研究目的在探討中年世代的家人關係與生活滿意度狀況，欲暸解不同家人關係中年世代的生活滿意度，並分析中年世代的家人關係對生活滿意度的影響。本研究聚焦40歲至60歲的中年世代（父母其一尚存、已婚、至少擁有一個不限年齡的子女），以個人背景（性別、年齡、社經地位）為控制變項，家人關係三面向（問題解決、情感傳達、訊息交換）為自變項，生活滿意度為依變項，使用問卷調查法，有效問卷共381份。結果發現：1.中年世代的家人關係以及生活滿意度都還算良好，2.家人關係越好的中年世代有顯著較良好的生活滿意度，3.家人關係是中年世代生活滿意度的顯著解釋變項，但同時處理「問題解決」、「情感傳達」、「訊息交換」三面向時，只有訊息交換能解釋生活滿意度，4.同時考量性別與家人關係，則性別對生活滿意度的影響不顯著，訊息交換是更具影響力的決定性因素，5.社經地位對生活滿意度有顯著影響，不過訊息交換的影響力更大；基於研究結果，建議中年世代無論男女貧富，都可先從家人關係之訊息交換著手學習，以增進家人關係以促進生活滿意度；也建議企業福利委員會可以更有意義的運用福利資源，商請家庭生活教育相關專業單位設計兼顧休閒娛樂與促進家人關係的活動；針對家庭生活教育推展方案，則是建議優先選用訊息交換設計促進家人關係方案﹔未來研究則是可以再多關注工作與健康對中年世代生活滿意度的影響。

The middle-aged generation show great concern for their family, but they show rather low satisfaction with their life. In view of this and the fact that little research has focused on this group of people, this study aimed to investigate the middle-aged generation’s family relationships and their life satisfaction conditions,to understand their life satisfaction conditions in terms of different family relationships, and to analyze how their different family relationships influence their life satisfaction.This research focused on the 40- to 60-years-old middle-aged generation (married, having at least one living parent and one child at any age). Personal background (gender, age, socioeconomic status) was analyzed as control variables, family relationships (problem solving, emotion expressing, information exchanging) as independent variables, and life satisfaction as a dependent variable. A questionnaire survey was conducted and 381 effective samples were collected.The results showed that the middle-aged generation generally maintained good family relationships and life satisfaction. The middle-aged adults who maintained better relationships with their family were significantly more satisfied with their life than the ones who do not. Family relationship was a significant explaining variable for the middle-aged adults’ life satisfaction. However, after further analysis of the three dimensions of family relationship— “problem solving,” “emotion expressing,” “information exchanging”— with the regression analysis model at the same time showed that only “information exchanging” could best account for the significance. Considering gender and family relationship at the same time, gender did not show significant difference in life satisfaction; “information exchanging” of family relationship was the crucial factor with greater impact. Socioeconomic status showed significant difference in life satisfaction, but its impact was still not as great as the impact of “information exchanging” of family relationship.According to the results, the research suggested the middle-aged generation, no matter male or female, poor or rich, can learn a better way exchange information with their family members to improve their family relationships, and then their life satisfaction can thus be elevated. The enterprise welfare committees are also suggested to use welfare resource more meaningfully by inviting specialized units related to family life education to design not only leisure activities but also the ones that can promote family relationships. To apply this research to the family life education promoting program, it is advised that “information exchanging” be put into the design of the program for promoting family relationships. Future research is suggested to focus more on the influence of work and health on the middle-aged generation’s life satisfaction.