在日中国人女性の異文化における育児経験―困難と対処のプロセス

Cross-Cultural Experiences of Immigrant Chinese Mothers Caring for Their Children in Japanese Society：The Process of Coping with Difficulties

要旨

　目的：在日中国人女性の，育児経験における困難と困難への対処のプロセスを記述する．

　方法：日本で出産を経験し学童までの子どもを育てた経験を持つ，首都圏近郊在住の中華人民共和国出身の在日中国人女性8名に半構造的面接を行い，質的記述的分析を行った．

　結果：育児で繰り返し遭遇する困難として≪日本の文化的な母親をイメージできない≫，≪異文化の見えない壁に遮られる≫，≪異文化の中で自分を見失う≫の3つの困難が段階的に抽出された．また，対処方法として，≪予期できない困難に学習を重ね対処する≫が抽出された．困難に繰り返し対処する結果得られるものに≪母親としての新しい自分を見出す≫が抽出された．困難への対処を経て得られたものとして，≪母親としての新しい自分を見出す≫が抽出された．

　結論：本研究の結果を困難の各段階でみられた在日中国人女性の心の変化や対処に着目したところ，Pedersenの5段階モデルと類似していたことから，育児を始めることで文化変容を迫られ，母親になると同時に異文化適応を経験していることが示唆された．

Abstract

　Objective: To describe the difficulties faced by immigrant Chinese mothers caring for their children in Japan and their process of coping with cross-cultural experiences.

　Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews of 8 Chinese-Japanese mothers living in the Tokyo metropolitan area who had given birth to and were caring for their children in Japan. A qualitative descriptive research method was used.

　Results: We found 3 categories of difficulties that these women faced repeatedly: 1) Could not imagine how to be a Japanese mother; 2) Were confronted by a wall of a different culture; 3) Lost their sense of self in cross-cultural experiences. We found 1 common category of coping: We found 1 category of outcomes from coping with difficulties: They found new identities as mothers with both Japanese and Chinese cultural characteristics.

　Conclusion: We found that they coped with their difficulties by observational learning and imitation, and that this result resembles the stage theory of culture shock proposed by Pedersen; that is, Chinese-Japanese mothers experienced intercultural adjustment and mothering together over time, because caring for their children forced them to acclimate to their new culture.