育兒階段夫妻工作家庭壓力調適：系統界限的定位與轉變

Work/Family Stress and Coping among Child-Rearing Couples: Boundary Setting and Shifting

研究目的：本研究從家庭系統的角度出發，檢視育兒階段夫妻的工作與家庭壓力現況及其調適。本研究試圖了解家庭系統界限在他們處理工作與家庭角色壓力過程中的變化。研究方法：我們一共邀請了31對雙薪、平均年齡35歲且第一個孩子進入幼兒園的夫妻，並以事先設計好的訪談大綱針對個別夫妻進行聯合訪談。研究結果：本研究發現不少雙薪夫妻在孩子上幼兒園後因托育方式改變，反而真正體會「新手父母」的壓力。他們的小家庭系統在此時與原生家庭分立出來，展現出由「婚姻次系統」或「親職次系統」主導的現象。而為了因應工作與家庭壓力，部分夫妻會尋求家族支援，但也同時會受到系統界限模糊的衝擊；另一些夫妻則是在缺少外援的情況下，對個人次系統界限進行壓縮調整。研究結論：育兒階段是華人夫妻小家庭界限確立的重要階段，原生家庭是育兒的資源或是阻力取決於夫妻對系統界限的共識；此階段的夫妻亦須格外注意親職次系統凌駕於婚姻次系統的可能問題。

Purpose: Using a family system perspective, this study examined the phenomenon of work and family stress and coping of couples with young children with the goal of understanding changes in family system boundaries while managing work and family stress. Methods: A total of 31 pairs of dual-career Taiwanese couples with mean age of 35 and with their first child in preschool were invited. They were conjointly interviewed, with a pre-designed interview guide.. Results: Qualitative analysis of the interviews indicated that most dual-income couples experienced stress with the change of childcare arrangements as their first child entered preschool. The boundary of the nuclear family system blurred with different subsystems. Two types of power structures in the nuclear family were evident: one dominated by the marital subsystem, and one dominated by the parenting subsystem. To cope with work and family stress, some couples sought support from their parents and experienced the impact of system boundary ambiguity. Others squeezed and shrank their individual boundaries due to the lack of outside resources. Conclusions: Child-rearing is a critical stage for establishing the boundaries of a nuclear family for Taiwanese couples. Whether the resources provided by their families of origin were helpful or not depended upon the consensus of the couple. When the parenting subsystem overpowered the marital subsystem it presented a problem for couples with young children.