生活負荷與幼兒子女貼心行為對雙薪父母福祉的作用效果

Effects of Daily Life Demands and Young Children's Heart-Warming Behaviors on Dual-Earner Parents' Well-Being

研究目的：對於面對工作與家庭雙重生活負荷的雙薪父母而言，幼兒子女扮演的角色，除了傳統上認定為增加家庭面向的負荷外，也有正向、積極的一面。本研究檢視在考量父母生活負荷的危機因素下，幼兒子女貼心行為對於父母福祉的影響。研究方法：本研究包含209對皆有全職工作、且其最長子女就讀幼兒園之夫妻。生活負荷的指標包含工作要求（每週工時與工時彈性）、家庭要求（子女數、最小子女年齡與配偶工時）、睡眠時間及休閒活動時間。幼兒子女貼心行為則為父母知覺到子女展現貼心話語、肢體動作與行為的程度。父母福祉包含個人層面的心理憂鬱及關係層面的婚姻滿意度。研究結果：研究結果發現，母親感受到的幼兒子女貼心行為顯著較父親為多；在控制生活負荷變項後，幼兒子女貼心行為對於預測父親心理憂鬱、父親婚姻滿意度及母親婚姻滿意度有直接效果。知覺子女貼心行為越多，父親憂鬱程度越低、父親與母親的婚姻滿意度皆越高。研究結論：在少子化的今日，將子女視為「正向力量」的觀點值得重視。

Purpose: For dual-earner couples who both face many daily life demands, young children have traditionally been viewed as a demand on their parents; the positive role of young children has long been neglected. This study examined the effects of young children’s heartwarming behaviors on parents’ well-being, taking daily life demands into consideration. Methods: The data was drawn from a “work and family” longitudinal study. This sample included 209 pairs of couples who both have full-time jobs and an oldest child at a preschool age. The mean ages of fathers and mothers were between 35 and 38. Daily life demands included work (working hours and time flexibility), family (number of children, age of youngest child, and spousal working hours), daily sleeping hours, and level of leisure time. Children’s heart-warming behaviors assessed caring conversations, actions, and the physical contact that parents perceived from their child. Parental well-being included depression and marital satisfaction. Results: Results showed that mothers perceived a significantly higher level of heart-warming behavior than fathers. After controlling for daily life demands, children’s heart-warming behavior significantly predicted fathers’ depression, fathers’ marital satisfaction, and mothers’ marital satisfaction. The more heart-warming behavior parents perceived, the lower the fathers’ depression, and the higher the fathers’ and mothers’ marital satisfaction. Conclusions: The positive role of young children on parents’ well-being was supported in this study.