女性の思う「子どもの意味」が対児感情に与える影響

Influence that women's ideas about the "meaning of children" gives feeling towards children

目的

　女性の思う「子どもの意味」と社会特性（属性）および子どもに対する感情の関連を検証することである。

対象と方法

　住民基本台帳から無作為に選出した25歳以上の女性466名に自記式質問紙（調査項目：属性、「子どもの意味」、対児感情）を郵送し、有効な返信の得られた164名を対象とした。

結果

　若い年代では、子どもに個人的意味づけをし、年代があがるほど社会的意味づけをする傾向がみられた。対児感情は年代があがるほど接近得点が高く、回避得点・拮抗指数が低くなる傾向がみられた。「子どもの意味」と対児感情の関連は年代によって異なり、それぞれの年代の社会的環境の影響が考えられた。

結論

　若い年代では、子育てを通して自身の成長を明らかにしていくことが対児感情を高めることに繋がる可能性が示唆された。様々な年代が混在する家族に対する子育て支援の際は、年代による相違を考慮し支援することが必要であり、ひとつの価値観にこだわらず、流動性をもたせ広い視点からの支援が望まれる。

Purpose

To investigate associations between women's ideas about the "meaning of children," their feeling towards children, and their social characteristics (attributes).

Method

Self-administered questionnaires (investigation item; social attributes, "meaning of children," and feeling toward children) were mailed to 466 females older than 25 years old who were randomly selected from a government resident registry. Valid responses were received from 164 study subjects.

Results

Younger respondents tended to give personal meanings to children, and older women tended to give social meanings. Regarding feelings toward children, as subject age increased, positive scores tended to rise, and negative scores and the ambivalent index fell. Associations between the "meaning of children" and feelings toward children varied by age, which suggests that social influences are tied to generational social environments.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that feelings toward children among the younger generations may be enhanced by defining their own growth through parenting. With respect to parenting support for families whose members are across different generations, offering support that is sensitive to these differences is required. In addition, flexible and broad support unconstrained by particular values is necessary.