工作與家庭的意義對因應職家衝突的影響－－華人雙文化自我觀之展現

The Meaning of Work and Family and its Role in Coping with Work and Family Conflict: Practicing the Chinese Bicultural Self

工作與家庭研究已累積了相當豐富的研究成果，但研究成果大多發表自西方國家，從生態系統理論的觀點，不同文化背景會形塑不同的價值觀、教育體制、家庭結構，最終影響到個體的發展，故不同國家的文化背景差異可能會影響工作與家庭研究結果。工作與家庭衝突是一種壓力感受，而個人賦予角色或壓力源的「意義」是造成壓力感受的關鍵因素，即個人賦予工作與家庭意義會影響個人對工作與家庭衝突的感受與因應。「自我觀」則是心理系統運作、日常生活中與他人、團體及社會互動的基礎，會影響個體對工作與家庭意義之界定。故本研究將從華人文化之「自我觀」──個人取向、社會取向與折衷自我的自我觀角度切入，探討個人如何界定工作與家庭的意義，以及如何影響工作與家庭介面的互動。本研究採用個別訪談之質性研究方法，藉深入訪談讓受訪者用豐富的生活體驗來詮釋個人的職家衝突歷程，並從中窺見個人「自我觀」對工作與家庭意義之界定，以及對職家衝突感受與因應策略選擇的影響。研究發現不同的「自我觀」，確實有截然不同的職家互動情形，工作與家庭意義是一種「主觀的意義」，基於個人建構之工作與家庭的意義，個人會投注不同的心力，而當職家衝突產生時，個人的抉擇也會有所不同。

Most research on work and family has been conducted in a Western context. From the perspective of ecological systems theory, each culture shapes the development of its people through the shared value system, family structure, and educational institutions. Culture plays an important role in the study of work and family. As work and family conflict can be stressful, the 'meaning' that an individual gives to certain roles or stressors is a key factor affecting perceived strain and influencing the choice of coping strategies. One's view of oneself is the foundation of individual psychological functioning as well as one's interactions with others, groups, and the larger society. It also shapes the meaning of work and family for an individual. The present study take the vantage point of the self, namely the individual-oriented self, social-oriented self, and composite self, to explore how individuals construct the meaning of work and family, and how it in turn affects the interface between work and family. We used in-depth qualitative interviews to draw on the rich life experiences of participants to understand how they make sense of work and family conflict. We used these narrative accounts to identify the influence of self view in the construction of the meaning of work and family, in the experience of work and family conflict, and in the effort to resolve conflict. Results indicated that people with different views of self did experience work and family interactions differently. The meanings of work and family are subjective, and based upon these personal convictions, people devote different levels of effort and adopt different strategies to cope with work and family conflict.