The Study of Single Mothers'' Meaning of Life

• Main Authors: Jiun-mei Wang, 王君美
• Other Authors: Chieh-fang Chi
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/73718279349670819725

碩士 === 南華大學 === 生死學研究所 === 94 === 　　The study belonged to the qualitative research that adopted purposive sampling.It selected five single mothers that resided in Tainan City to be the research objects.A deep interview through the direction of semi-structured interview approach was used to this study,and guided the single mothers to make the retrospection of the course of life.We expected to understand their profound realization toward the meaning of life from the experiences obtained and the course of psychological adjustment,and explored factors that affect the meaning of life. The main findings are as following: Ⅰ.The Viewpoints for Life：The participants recalled their own experiences, and shared their respective opinions and feelings on before becoming a single mother and after becoming one.Footprints are left in the sand;whatever reasons that caused participants A-E to become single parents,they were heavily influenced in the midst of all their experiences,causing them to change their life views,attitudes and values.Participant D¡¦s biggest change was towards the value of money,she felt that money was very important.This is due to her need to re-enter the job market,to work hard and earn a living.The changes in the mental state and attitudes of other participants were more positive. Ⅱ.The Freedom of Life：On confronting single parenthood, choosing degrees of lifestyle freedom and independence.Participants B,D and E are all experiencing financial problems,resulting in a low degree of lifestyle freedom.However, because participants A and C¡¦s families already have sufficient economic status,they have higher degrees of freedom in their lifestyles. The more elastic the economic activities are,the more they can take control of their lives; thus,they can freely search for happiness and plan their lives according to their desires.For single mothers, financial freedom and lifestyle freedom are no different. Ⅲ.The Goal and Quality of Life：Next,we assess the feelings of participants on their current lifestyles,their grasp of future goals and plans,and the intention to carry them out. Participant A, 29 years old has one daughter; because of her age she hopes to rebuild a family and bear more children.Participants B-E on the other hand, based their objectives on their families. Ⅳ.The Meaning of Confronting Hardship：The difficulties faced by the participants as single parents,their explanation and perspectives.Partners’deaths, domestic violence and conflict with mothers-in-law are some of the reasons why participants B-E became single parents.Even so,they perceive these adversities positively. However, participant’s A single state was caused by her own infidelity; she perceives her difficulties negatively,owning it all to fate. Ⅴ. Searching for the Value：In the quest for meaning, even if participant C can presently take good care of her growing daughter,she is still concerned with the conditions of her eldest and second daughters.But she still cannot let go of the negative feelings between her and her mother-in-law’s relationship,she feels that her in-law owes more than an apology.On the other hand, participants A,B,D and E can currently support themselves and are fully responsible of their lives; they can also distinguish the reasons for their existence. Ⅵ.Searching for the Meaning of Life：A review on their respective goals and an affirmation of participants’values on life; participants A,C,D,and E established their values based on their families’happiness and contentment. Still, participant B feels that in order to help make others happy,one should take care of oneself first; therefore, her values are based on making herself happy first. Ⅶ.Searching for the Value and the Meaning of Life：We continue with participants’ interpretations of their existence,life course and realization of the meaning of life.A sudden occurrence in the midst of the participants’ lives changed the way they see life;and after a period of adjusting, they have slowly changed their judgment of the incident from negative to positive.