ABSTRACT

THIS STUDY EXPLORES THE CHANGES IN THE PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION EXPERIENCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF PARENTS (SINGLE PARENTS AND TWO PARENTS) BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE EPIDEMIC.  THE STUDY ADOPTED QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS AND CONDUCTED IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WITH 10 FAMILIES (5 SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES AND 5 TWO-PARENT FAMILIES), AND ANALYZED FROM THREE LEVELS: EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT, INTERACTION MODEL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT.RESEARCH HAS FOUND THAT THE EPIDEMIC HAS NOT ONLY CHANGED FAMILIES' LIFESTYLES, BUT ALSO AFFECTED THE PATTERN AND QUALITY OF PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION.ESPECIALLY DURING THE SHUTDOWN OF WORK AND SCHOOL, THE TIME PARENTS SPEND WITH THEIR CHILDREN HAS INCREASED SHARPLY FROM THE ORIGINAL 2-3 HOURS TO 12-14 HOURS.THIS ABNORMAL LIFESTYLE HAS BROUGHT UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES TO THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP.   THE RESEARCH RESULTS SHOW THAT 14 IMPORTANT THEMES EMERGED FROM THE INTERVIEWS, AND THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SINGLE-PARENT PARENTS AND DUAL-PARENT PARENTS IN FACING THE IMPACT OF THE EPIDEMIC.IN TERMS OF EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT, TWO-PARENT FAMILIES CAN PROVIDE MORE COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT THROUGH THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND COOPERATION BETWEEN PARENTS.THE FATHER IS MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR TUTORING IN MATH AND SCIENCE SUBJECTS, WHILE THE MOTHER FOCUSES ON TUTORING IN CHINESE SUBJECTS.IN CONTRAST, ALTHOUGH SINGLE PARENTS FACE RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS, THEY ARE OFTEN ABLE TO DEVELOP MORE INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES, SUCH AS MAKING GOOD USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND ESTABLISHING MUTUAL AID NETWORKS.IN TERMS OF INTERACTION PATTERNS, TWO-PARENT FAMILIES TEND TO OPTIMIZE THE QUALITY OF INTERACTION THROUGH ROLE DIVISION, WHILE SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES FOCUS MORE ON IMPROVING THE EFFECT OF A SINGLE INTERACTION.AT THE LEVEL OF EMOTIONAL SUPPORT, THE SUPPORT METHODS OF TWO-PARENT FAMILIES HAVE EXPERIENCED A TRANSFORMATION FROM DIVISION OF LABOR AND COLLABORATION TO OVERALL INTEGRATION, WHILE SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES HAVE DEVELOPED MORE DIRECT AND IN-DEPTH EMOTIONAL CONNECTION STRATEGIES.   RESEARCH HAS FOUND THAT BOTH SINGLE-PARENT AND TWO-PARENT FAMILIES CAN MAINTAIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH DIFFERENT STRATEGIES AND ADAPTATIONS.  SOME GOOD INTERACTIVE HABITS FORMED DURING THE EPIDEMIC, SUCH AS REGULAR IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS AND JOINT PARTICIPATION IN HOUSEWORK, ARE STILL RETAINED AND DEVELOPED BY MANY FAMILIES AFTER THE EPIDEMIC.THIS SUGGESTS THAT CRISES MAY ALSO BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE THE OPTIMIZATION OF FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS.THE RESEARCH RESULTS NOT ONLY HELP UNDERSTAND THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAMILIES, BUT ALSO PROVIDE AN EMPIRICAL BASIS FOR FORMULATING DIFFERENTIATED FAMILY SUPPORT POLICIES.BASED ON THE RESEARCH FINDINGS, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES SHOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION TO THE DIVERSITY OF FAMILIES WHEN FORMULATING POLICIES AND PROVIDE MORE TARGETED SUPPORT SERVICES FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF FAMILIES.   本研究探討疫情前中後不同類型家長（單親及雙親）的親子互動體驗變化。研究採用質性研究方法，通過深度訪談10個家庭（5個單親家庭和5個雙親家庭），從教育支援、互動模式和情感支援三個層面進行分析。研究發現，疫情不僅改變了家庭的生活方式，更影響了親子互動的模式和品質。尢其是在停工停學期間，家長和子女的相處時間從原來的2-3小時急增至12-14小時，這種非常態的生活方式為親子關係帶來了前所未有的挑戰和機遇。 研究結果顯示，在訪談中得出14個重要主題，單親家長和雙親家長在面對疫情衝擊時呈現出顯著差異。在教育支援方面，雙親家庭能夠通過父母分工合作的方式提供更全面的教育支援，父親多負責數理科目輔導，母親則專注於語文學科輔導。相比之下，單親家長雖然面臨資源限制，但往往能發展出更具創新性的教育策略，如善用社區資源、建立互助網絡等。在互動模式方面，雙親家庭傾向於通過角色分工來優化互動質量，而單親家庭則更注重提升單次互動的效果。在情感支援層面，雙親家庭的支援方式經歷了從分工協作到整體融合的轉變，而單親家庭則發展出更直接和深入的情感連結策略。 研究發現，無論是單親還是雙親家庭，都能通過不同的策略和適應方式維持親子關係的發展。疫情期間形成的一些良好互動習慣，如定期深度對話、共同參與家務等，在疫情後仍被許多家庭保留和發展。這表明危機也可能成為推動家庭關係優化的契機。研究結果不僅有助於理解不同類型家庭的獨特需求，也為制定差異化的家庭支援政策提供了實證基礎。基於研究發現，建議政府和社會服務機構在制定政策時應更加注重家庭的多樣性，為不同類型的家庭提供更有針對性的支援服務。