青少年親子關係類型及親子互動差異比較：因素混合模式分析

Heterogeneous Parent-Adolescent Relationship and Effects on Their Interactions with Factor Mixture Analysis

本研究旨在探討高三青少年知覺的親密衝突異質性親子關係類型，以及不同類型在親子互動時的訊息坦露程度和關係滿意度差異比較。本研究資料擷取自中央研究院社會學研究所之「台灣青少年成長歷程研究計畫」國一樣本第六波青少年問卷資料。研究樣本為1,745名高三生，研究變項包括其與父、母相處時的親密和衝突互動，親子間訊息坦露程度以及對親子關係的情緒滿意度跟認知滿意度。本研究利用因素混合模式分析（factor mixture model, FMM）進行「親密」、「衝突」二因子之異質性分析，並進一步利用新進發展的BCH方法，針對不同類型的親子間訊息坦露程度與關係滿意度進行差異檢定。研究結果顯示：（一）青少年的親子關係型態，無論是與父親或與母親皆可區分出三種類型，包括：「親近和諧型」、「矛盾混合型」以及「衝突爭執型」。（二）其中以親近和諧型（母親：53％；父親：64％）佔最多數，其次是矛盾混合型（母親：41％；父親：30％），衝突爭執型佔最少人數（母親：5％；父親：6％）。（三）青少年自覺與父親親近和諧的人數比例高過於與母親的人數；而與母親關係感到矛盾的人數比例多過父親；又，與父親和母親衝突爭執的人數比例則無明顯差異。（四）最後，「親近和諧型」有最多訊息交流之行為，且對關係滿意度最高，而「衝突爭執型」不僅鮮少親子間訊息往來，且對關係感到不滿意。

Adolescence is a developmental transition set in motion by a cascade of hormonal changes and accompanied by various physiological, psychological, and social changes, including changes in the parent-child relationship. Parent-child relationships are regarded as the most significant relationships in people's lives due to the profound psychological and social bonds involved. Intimacy is the essence of the parent-child relationship. However, when adolescents start to strive for more autonomy from their parents, changes in family conflicts occur. According to the separation-individuation perspective and the autonomy-relatedness perspective, autonomy development is thought to entail changes in conflict and power in parent-adolescent relationships. The aim of this study was to analyze heterogeneity in scales of intimacy and conflict of parent-adolescent relationships and their influences on adolescents' perception of their intimacy and conflict with their parents, and also on the amount of information disclosure and satisfaction with their relationship. Data were extracted from the Taiwan Youth Project (TYP), a panel longitudinal research project managed by Academia Sinica, Taiwan. The TYP investigates young people's life experiences and development. The first wave of data came from adolescents who were seventh graders. Data related to the current study were retrieved from the sixth wave of the project. A total of 1745 (857 girls and 888 boys) 12th-grade adolescents (i.e., those in the final year of senior high school in Taiwan) were recruited. The items in the adolescent survey measured the degree to which adolescents had felt closeness and conflict with their fathers and mothers separately in the past year. Intimacy refers to positive affection, consideration of parents' opinions, concern for parents, and respect for parents. Example items include ＂Inquiring about his/her opinions about important things＂; ＂Paying attention to his/her thoughts＂; ＂Expressing concern about him/her＂; and ＂Seeing him/her as a model＂. Conflict refers to quarreling with parents or giving parents attitude. The scale included five items related to intimate relationships and three items related to conflict relationships. Responses were given on a four-point Likert scale (from 0 = hardly to 4 = almost always). Regarding information disclosure and satisfaction with parent-adolescent relationships, adolescents answered the following four questions during the sixth-wave assessment: (1) ＂Will your father/mother tell you their thoughts regarding decisions that concern you?＂ (from 0 = hardly to 4 = almost always); (2) ＂How much information about your private affairs do you like to share with your father/mother?＂ (0 = none at all to 3 = a lot); (3) ＂Do you feel happy when you are with your father/mother?＂ (from 0 = very unhappy to 3 = very happy); and (4) ＂How do you feel about the relationship between you and your father/ mother?＂ (from 0 = very unsatisfied to 3 = very satisfied). Adolescents were asked to rate their relationships with both parents separately. The factor mixture model (FMM), implemented in Mplus 8.3, was used to analyze the heterogeneity of intimacy and conflict scores, and the BCH method was used to test the mean score differences in information disclosure and satisfaction among heterogeneous parent-adolescent classes. The FMM used a hybrid of both categorical and continuous latent variables, which allowed the underlying structure to be simultaneously categorical and dimensional. The study assumed several heterogeneous intimacy and conflict subgroups in parent-adolescent relationships. The FMM approach was suitable for this research because it allowed for heterogeneity within groups through the use of continuous latent variables. The results were as follows: First, the parent-adolescent relationships could be divided into three classes, namely harmonious, ambivalent, and conflict. The harmonious class was the majority (mother: 53%; father: 64%); the ambivalent class was the second largest group (mother: 41%; father: 30%); and the conflict class accounted for the smallest group (mother: 5%; father: 6%). Third, the percentage of adolescents who had harmonious father-child relationships was higher than that who had harmonious mother-child relationships; the percentage of people who had an ambivalent mother-child relationship was higher than that of people with an ambivalent father-child relationship; and the proportions in the conflict class were almost identical between fathers and mothers. Finally, adolescents in the harmonious parent-child class were most likely to demonstrate information exchange behavior with their parents, and they exhibited the highest satisfaction with their relationships; by contrast, adolescents in the conflict class demonstrated the fewest communication behaviors and were the least satisfied with their relationships. According to the results, parent-adolescent relationships were classified into three types. One type, namely the detached class (low intimacy and low conflict), did not appear in the current study. This might be because most of the senior-high-school participants still lived with their parents, who are the main providers of financial resources, daily life needs, and emotional attachment; thus, adolescents cannot avoid parent-child interaction. Second, the harmonious class was the largest among the three classes. From a cultural perspective, Chinese culture emphasizes family cohesion and filial piety; therefore, Chinese parent-child relationships are relatively close, which leads to more intimate bonding, closeness, and affection between parents and children. In addition, since Western culture was introduced to Taiwan, parent-child relationships have become more democratic and responsive; an increasing number of parents adopt authoritative parenting, which is characterized by high degrees of support, warmth, and autonomy. Third, in contrast to traditional Chinese families, in which fathers are perceived as serious and emotionally detached from their children, the present study revealed that the adolescents had harmonious father-child relationships. This implies that fathers today are more willing to engage in parental activities; thus, they have more interactive opportunities to establish father-child relationships. Consistent with previous findings, adolescents had more ambivalent mother-child relationships compared with relationships with their fathers. Mothers spend more time with their children; in addition to daily care, the interaction between adolescents and mothers involves more personal and deeper psychological feelings. Simultaneously, mothers usually assume greater responsibility for discipline and supervision of schoolwork and other activities. Teenagers receive pressure from their mother's love as well as discipline; hence, they have more ambivalent feelings toward their mothers. Regarding information disclosure and satisfaction with parent-adolescent relationships, the harmonious parent-child class exhibited the most information exchange behaviors and the highest satisfaction with their relationships. The results of this research are consistent with those of past research that have indicated that close parent-adolescent relationships elicit warmth, supportiveness, and positive communication. Intimate relationships were also found to be major contributors to satisfaction. By contrast, the conflict class exhibited the fewest communication behaviors and were unsatisfied with their relationships with their parents. This finding is in line with those of previous studies. Several studies have indicated that parent-adolescent conflict influences adolescents' perceptions of parent-child relationship satisfaction. Conflict will reduce adolescents' satisfaction with their parents as well as cause negative feelings toward them. In this situation, teenagers are likely to avoid communicating with their parents and refuse to exchange information. Overall, the present study investigated heterogeneity in scales of intimacy and conflict in parent-adolescent relationships as well as their influences. The results specifically revealed three types of parent-child relationships: harmonious, ambivalent, and conflict. However, this research is still in the preliminary stage and must be verified in future studies. This study's limitations and suggestions for future studies are presented as follows: First, only adolescents' data were adopted; hence, parent-child dyadic analysis can be adopted in future research. Second, the participants were all from Northern Taiwan; therefore, future studies could include more participants from Taiwan's Central, Southern, and Eastern regions.