Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.6115/fer.2022.026

A Narrative Inquiry into Middle-aged Women who Experienced the Residential Independence of Never-married Children  

Kwon, Soonbum (Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Seoul National University)
Chin, Meejung (Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Seoul National University/Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Human Ecology Research / v.60, no.3, 2022 , pp. 391-406 More about this Journal
Abstract
This study examined the experience of middle-aged women, centering on the home as the residence of never-married children. I conducted interviews with four such women in their 50s and 60s who had experienced the residential independence of never-married children within the past five years, and a variety of field texts were used as research texts. Through reconstructing the participants' experiences, two main themes emerged: experiencing anxiety regarding alienation from their child and expecting to resolve this anxiety through the marriage of their child. The participants were anxious about their never-married children, and this study found that at the root of this was anxiety regarding being alienated from their children. The participants often attempted to visit their children's homes to relieve such anxiety but, as their children often discouraged this, the situation was aggravated. Thus, the participants wished for their children to marry, as they aspired to restore an intimate relationship with them through such an event. These results imply that tensions and conflicts between parents and children may arise due to the independence of never-married children.
Keywords
middle-aged women; never-married children; residential independence; narrative inquiry;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
연도 인용수 순위
1 Billari, F. C., & Liefbroer, A. C. (2007). Should I stay or should I go? The impact of age norms on leaving home. Demography, 44(1), 181-198. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2007.0000   DOI
2 Byun, M., Sin, S., Cho, K., & Park, M. (2008). Single person household and urban policy in Seoul. Seoul: The Seoul Institute.
3 Chang, M. H., Chung, H. S., Ma, K. H., Kim, Y. J, Kim, Y. H, & Seo, Y. K. (2011). Transition from youth to adulthood II: Gender differences in the transition to adulthood . Seoul: Korea Institute for Youth Development.
4 Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1989). Narrative and story in practice and research. In D. Schon (Ed.), The reflective turn: Case studies in and on educational practice (pp. 258-281). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
5 Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
6 Cole, A. L., & Knowles, J. G. (2001). Lives in context: The art of life history researches. Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
7 Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2-14. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X019005002   DOI
8 Eun, K. S. (1995). The normative age and the normative sequence in the transition to marriage. Korea Journal of Population Studies, 18(1), 89-117.
9 Blossfeld, H. P., Klijzing, E., Mills, M., & Kurz, K. (2005). Globalization, uncertainty and youth in society: The losers in a globalizing world. New York, NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203003206   DOI
10 Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
11 Chin, M., Byun, J., & Kwon, S. B. (2014). The changing in family life cycle: A comparison to Gong Se Kwon (1987)'s Analysis. Family and Culture, 26(4), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.21478/family.26.4.201412.001   DOI
12 Clandinin, D. J., & Rosiek, J. (2007). Mapping a landscape of narrative inquiry: Borderland spaces and tensions. In D. J. Clandinin (Ed.), Handbook of narrative inquiry: Mapping a methodology (pp. 35-75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13 Dennerstein, L., Dudley, E., & Guthrie, J. (2002). Empty nest or revolving door? A prospective study of women's quality of life in midlife during the phase of children leaving and re-entering the home. Psychological Medicine , 32 (3), 545-550. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291701004810   DOI
14 Kim, H. K. (2017). Alternative intimacy after the family: Co-housing experiments among unmarried youths and the community of care and friendship. Korean Journal of Sociology, 51(1), 155-198. https://doi.org/10.21562/kjs.2017.02.51.1.155   DOI
15 Gong. S., Park, I., Jo, A., Kim, J., & Jang, H. (1987). Change in family structure in Korea: Focusing on the survey of family life cycle. Seoul: Korea Institute for Population and Health.
16 Ha, S., & Chung, H. (2008). Intergenerational transmission of the family-of-origin functioning and self-differentiation. The Korea Journal of Counseling , 9 (2), 789-806. https://doi.org/10.15703/kjc.9.2.200806.789   DOI
17 Hoffman, J. A. (1984). Psychological separation of late adolescents from their parents. Journal of Counseling Psychology , 31(2), 170-178. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.2.170   DOI
18 Jung, M. W., & Lee N. Y. (2011). Youths on the boundary of the 'family': Gendered experiences of in/dependence and normative spatiotemporality. Economy and Society, 89, 105-145.
19 Kang, H. S. (2018). The case study on cohabiting adult child dependent on their parents. Korean Journal of Christian Counseling, 29(3), 9-52. https://doi.org/10.23909/KJCC.2018.08.29.3.9   DOI
20 Koh, H. J., & Kang, H. W. (2003). The relationship between psychological independence from parents and dysfunctional career thinking. The Korean Journal of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 15(2), 277-293.
21 Lee, J. P. (2012). Study on narrative inquiry as a methodology. The Journal of Elementary Education Studies, 19(2), 127-147.
22 Lee, S. M. (2014). Complex process of post-modernity of life course ad dual process of individualization and familization: Focused on the sequence analysis of transition to adulthood of 1955-1974 birth cohort. Korean Journal of Sociology, 48(2), 67-106. https://doi.org/10.21562/kjs.2014.04.48.2.67   DOI
23 Tosi, M. (2017). Age norms, family relationships, and home-leaving in Italy. Demographic Research, 36, 281-306. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2017.36.9   DOI
24 Ryu, K., Jung, J., Kim, Y., & Kim, H. (2018). Understanding qualitative research methods. Soeul: Pakyoungstory.
25 Shin, S, J., Park, B. N, & Kang, H. Y. (2005). A grounded theory approach on the parting experience of Korean middle-aged women with their children. Korean Journal of Adult Nursing. 17(5), 719-731.
26 Statistics Korea. (2018, November 6). Results of the 2018 Social Survey. Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://kostat.go.kr
27 White, L., & Edwards, J. N. (1990). Emptying the nest and parental wellbeing: An analysis of national panel data. American Sociological Review, 55(2), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095629   DOI
28 Yeom, J. S. (2002). Narrative inquiry in educational research: The concept, procedure, and dilemmas. The Journal of Anthropology of Education, 6(1), 119-140.
29 Sung, M., Choi, Y., Choi, S., & Lee, J. (2017). Elderly parents-unmarried adult children relationships : Group differences by co-residency and economic dependency of adult children. Journal of Korean Home Management Association, 35(1), 139-158. https://doi.org/10.7466/JKHMA.2017.35.1.139   DOI
30 Park, S. (2017). De-institutionalization but sustained cultural influence of marriage through the lens of the unmarried. Family and Culture, 29(4), 94-121. https://doi.org/10.21478/family.29.4.201712.004   DOI
31 Yeom, J. S. (1999). Understanding the infant world through narrative inquiry. The Journal of Anthropology of Education, 2(3), 57-82.
32 Song, D. Y., Jang, S. J., & Kim, E. J. (2010). An analysis of factors affecting work-family conflict of Korean working people: Focusing the effect of workplace support and familial support. Social Welfare Policy, 37(3), 27-52. https://doi.org/10.15855/swp.2010.37.3.27   DOI
33 Shim, Y. H. (2013). Two types of individualization: Focusing on "family-centered survival type" and "twilight and domestic divorce type". Society and Theory , 23, 277-312. https://doi.org/10.17209/st.2013.11.23.277   DOI
34 Shin, K. A. (2012). Feminist critique of individualization thesis in late modern society. Issues in Feminism, 12(1), 1-33.
35 Sironi, M., & Furstenberg, F. F. (2012). Trends in the economic independence of young adults in the United States: 1973-2007. Population and Development Review, 38(4), 609-630. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00529.x   DOI
36 Baltes, P. B. (1993). The aging mind: Potential and limits. The Gerontologist , 33 (5), 580-594. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/33.5.580   DOI
37 WinGKorea Consulting. (2017). A research on the trends and prospects of Korean Consciousness and values in 20 years. Sejong: Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
38 Ha, J. W., Kim, H. H., & Park, J. A. (2014). Research on the life status and supporting of single-households in Busan. Busan: Busan Women and Family Development Institute.
39 Hong, Y. S. (2019). Narrative inquiry as relational research. Journal of Qualitative Inquiry , 5 (1), 81-107. https://dx.doi.org/10.30940/JQI.2019.5.1.81   DOI
40 Kim, B. (2012). Understanding the ontological, methodological, and epistemological stance of narrative inquiry and the inquiry process in those stances. The Journal of Anthropology of Education, 15(3), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.17318/jae.2012.15.3.001   DOI
41 Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Individualization: Institutional individualism and its social and political consequences. London: Sage.
42 Park, J. M., & Choi, I. R. (2016). The effect of K-MBSR program on stress, stress coping style, depression, anger and sleep of middle aged women. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing , 46(2), 194-206. https://dx.doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2016.46.2.194   DOI
43 Lapsley, D. K., Rice, K. G., & Shadid, G. E. (1989). Psychological separation and adjustment to college. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36(3), 286-294. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.36.3.286   DOI
44 Lee, Y. B., Lee, Y., Choi, H., & Lee, H. (2011). An explorative stuy on coresident adult children in Korea. Korean Journal of Family Social Work, 31, 5-30. https://doi.org/10.16975/kjfsw.2011..31.001   DOI
45 Moen, P. (2011). From 'work-family' to the 'gendered life course' and 'fit': Five challenge to the field. Community, Work & Family, 14(1), 81-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2010.532661   DOI
46 Lee, Y. S. (2011). Attitudes about parental economic support to young adult children: Comparisons among children, mothers, and fathers. Korea Journal of Population Studies, 34(3), 1-30.
47 Mitchell, B. A., & Lovegreen, L. D. (2009). The empty nest syndrome in midlife families: A multimethod exploration of parental gender differences and cultural dynamics. Journal of Family Issues, 30(12), 1651-1670. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X09339020   DOI
48 Park, K. N. (2012). Searching for a new direction of women's movement in the age of individualization: Based on the case of Korean Womenlink. Issues in Feminism, 12(1), 73-116.