The psychologcal study of the relationship emotional tites and resource distribution within parental-child relationship

2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 11610138
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 教育・社会系心理学
• Research Institution: Shirayuri College
• Principal Investigator: NAGAHISA Hisako Shirayuri College, the literature, Instruetor, 文学部, 助手 (90297052)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2001
• Keywords: mother / emotional ties / resource distribution / parental-child relationship / individual lifestyles / care-resources

Research Abstract

In this study, we examined the relationship between emotional ties and resource distribution within parental-child relationships. Care-resources were defined as time and emotional energy. It was found that while resources were distributed to both relationships within the family and to the mother as an individual, the amount drastically decreased for individual consumption when compared to resources spent for the family. While women with higher contributions to the family income tended to spend more resources towards themselves, the balance between personal and family distribution did not differ from those who did not contribute as much. Our studies indicated that the increasing number of highly-educated women, in addition to the allocation of resources within the family and shifting views on individual lifestyles, led to a change in viewing child-care from "child-care being the center of an individual's life "to" child-care" and an individual lifestyle as two separate entities."
In case s where the mother had no other source of allocation other than the child or child-related activities, she was apt to state that the care of the child was the result of solely her own efforts and was her life, thus merging the mother's success and abilities as an individual to that of the child's and using it as an exclusive measure of herself as an individual. However, in cases where there were other areas of allocation, the mother tended to feel as though" the child was brought up due to cooperation between everyone involved" and was thought of as a separate and different aspect, apart from one's life as an individual. They also considered the child more of a responsibility than as an opportunity to exhibit one's abilities nor as the only source of personal achievement.
The presence of mothers was found to be stronger in the former examples. Furthermore, children raised in families where the mother considered herself and the child as one, were constantly under parental supervision and had little opportunity for personal growth. One reason why such mothers have difficulty finding other areas of resource allocation was related to the fact that they lack the initial care-resources. It was determined that the level of contentment with the husband had no correlation with the amount of resources a mother spent on herself. Furthermore, there was no positive correlation found between the level of family contentment of more highly-educated mothers and the distribution of resources for personal use. However, correlation was found between the two for mothers with lower-education.
From this, it can be determined that mother spending time and energy on maintaining an individual lifestyle does not lead to a disintegration of familial ties. After looking at the relationship and distribution between familial bonds, child-care and care-resources, it was shown that more mothers spend in resources with the family, the weaker family ties. Contrarily, an increase in care-resources distribution to the family by the father led to stronger family bonds.