Selfish or responsible? Married heterosexual childfree men's self-reflection and the negotiation processes with their couples
| Autor: | LIN, JUEI-MIN, 林瑞敏 |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 107 This study concerns the negotiation processes of married heterosexual men’s “childfree” decision. Previous studies on “childfree” decisions focus more on the reasons of such a decision, stress from the others and strategies about dealing with such a stress during the processes, the change of meanings of life and family, and there are few discussions about their negotiation process. Moreover, most of the research participants in previous studies are female, and the voices of “childfree” men are hidden in the study of “childfree” families. Therefore, this study interviews 14 “childfree” married heterosexual men in order to understand these men’s thoughts about “childfree” life and their conception of a family, how they negotiate with their couples, their emotional expression in negotiation, and how they respond to society expectations of an ideal men and gender roles. My research findings are as the followings: Firstly, similar to previous studies, the reasons for these married heterosexual men’s “childfree” life include personal factors, their couples’ health condition, and family situation. Secondly, in regards to the traditional thinking of patrilineal family, some men insist that it should be their brothers’ sons to carry on the patrilineal family; some think it is ok. For their siblings’ children or for their sisters’ children to continue the patrilineal family, while still others think the concept of continuance of patrilineal family should be abandoned at all. These men think that the family can be a “nuclear family”, “childfree family” or “same-sex family”. Thirdly, these men’s negotiation about their childfree decision has changed from negotiation with their own parents to their spouses. The types of dynamic negotiation processes can be as the following: “no need to negotiate at all”, “to reach the agreements immediately”, “back and forth negotiation”, or “avoidance of negotiation”. Fourthly, these men challenge the concept of “childless men as irresponsible” and believe that to be a responsible man means that men should be responsible for the child, for the partner, for the parents or for themselves. If they think that they are unable to be responsible for the child, they choose not to have one in order to be responsible. Finally, these men’s emotional expressions can be identified as the following: “to define and express their emotions”, “to express their emotions partially in words” and “to reveal their emotions indirectly”. These emotional expressions can affect their interactions with their couples. This research enriches men’s study with a more nuanced understanding of men’s decisions on childfree life and their emotional expressions in the negotiations processes with their spouses. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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