| Summary: | 碩士 === 佛光大學 === 社會學系 === 100 === The purpose of this study was to probe the accommodation of the pseudo single-parent family, due to one of the parents accepting the assignment of the company to work in a foreign country. There were three main discussed questions: how children adapted the pseudo single-parent family while they were only nurtured by one parent, how the spouse who stayed in Taiwan helped children to adapted the family, and influenced by the pseudo single-parent family experience, how cildren would choose their future career between their family lives. This study used qualitative research method, and semistructured interviews to collect data. Eight pseudo single-parent families, from four sections of Taiwan, were chosen. Eight children and eight spouses in Taiwan were interviewed, totally sixteen interviewees. The results of this study are as the following:
1. Expatriates seldom discussed with children while deciding to work abroad. Children had no choice but accept the decision. If children were still infants, they had fewer accommodative problems, but if they were up to the age of attending schools, they would have more problems. To share spouses’ responsibilities of taking care of the family alone, relatives were often asked to help, so children would spent more time in relatives’ homes after schools. Also, children would be willing to do housework and develope abilites of looking after themselves. The personalities of children would become unisex gradually.
2. The spouses in Taiwan would tell school teachers about the family situation and to ask teachers to pay more attention to children. However, children would say nothing about their family at school; only few closed friends, often those whom they grew up with, knew. Expatriates hoped children were able to find a good job in Taiwan, instant of leaving home and working abroad like themselves, so they would demand higher grades. Children would also pushed themselves to get good grades to reapy expatriates’ hard work.
3. Facing expatriates’ decision to work abroad, spouses in Taiwan could only say “YES” because they were worried that their refusals would lead to career crisis which may bring up complains from the expatriates. Spouses would ask themselves to face the separation positively, especially in front of children. Through the separated time going by, the main decision-making power would pass on to spouses in Taiwan. Coping with office jobs, family, nurturing children at the same time, if pulsing the suspicious from relatives or friends, the stress on spouses would grew more and more. To maintain the relationships between children and expatriates, spouses would use phones, web-cams, E-mails etc…to communicate and to tie up the family bonds, and more, go traveling (whole family together) while expatriates coming home.
4. In the future, while children themselves facing their own opportunities to work abroad, five of eight interviewees said “NO” insistently. Two interviewees said “YES” only while their family had economical crisis. Just one said “YES” under the prerequisite of offering better salary. Although these children seemed to accommodate the pseudo single-parent family gradually and eventually, most of them still didn’t want to separate from their parents and family if they had have a choice.
Key words: pseudo single-parent, expatriate’ family in Taiwan, family accommodation
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