離婚單親父親的父職實踐經驗：四位中年男性的敘說分析

Experiences of Divorced Single Fathers’ Fathering Practices: A Narrative Analysis of Four Middle-Aged Men

受到社會變遷影響，單親家庭的數量急速成長，然而過去有關離婚的文獻多半聚焦在女性的經驗，對離婚父親的探究較少。在傳統的性別文化之下，男性並不被期待發展出擔任父職角色所需的關懷與照顧特質，若再加上離婚所帶來的壓力，這些父親在面對與孩子培養正向親子關係的種種議題上，可能會面臨許多挑戰。本研究主要的目的在於了解因離婚而單親的父親在擔任親職的經驗與實踐為何，並探索與父職實踐相關之因素。本研究採取質性研究的深度訪談，研究參與者為四位臺灣南部的中年單親父親。透過研究參與者對於親職經驗的敘說，並從故事中整理出主題，以呈現出每位父親之父職實踐樣貌。研究結果發現，四位單親父親的故事主題中呈現出多元的父職風格。四位單親父親對於親職角色相當重視，也都願意負擔起教養孩子的工作。在親職實踐的過程中，單親父親經常感受到負面的情緒，唯有在看到孩子的表現與成就時，會感到榮耀。單親父親對於離婚的態度與處理方式會影響其親子關係，單親父親常忙於工作與教養孩子之間的平衡，有些父親會疏於與孩子建立關係，而逐漸疏離，有些參與者則在經歷一些事件後有所覺醒，從實踐的過程中去修正與調整教養方式。與單親父職實踐相關因素有正面亦有負面，包括個人心理、原生家庭與社會文化層面。根據上述發現，本研究也提出未來後續研究及對單親父親的心理輔導及福利服務提出實務上的建議。

Under the influence of social change, the numbers of single families are growing. Most past research on divorce focused on females’ experiences, and there were only few studies on divorced men. Due to the traditional gendered culture, men are not expected to develop traits of care which is essential for the role of fathering. Adding the stress caused by divorce, these single fathers may experience a lot of challenges when facing various parenting issues and building positive father-child relationships. The purpose of this study was to understand the divorced single fathers’ experiences and practices of parenting, and to explore the factors related to the fathering practices. This study utilizes the qualitative methods, and the participants were four divorced single fathers in middle adulthood who reside in the southern part of Taiwan. Results show that all four single fathers represent diverse styles of fathering in the themes of stories. They all value the task of parenting and are willing to take on the role of taking care of children. During the practices of parenting, they often experienced negative emotions, but seeing children’s achievement makes them feel proud. These fathers’ attitude toward and the ways of handling divorce might affect their father-child relationships. Divorced single fathers usually try to find balance of work and child-rearing. Some fathers might neglect to build relationships with their children so they become distant, other fathers might gain self-awareness after some incidents and try to adjust the parenting styles. Factors related to the fathers’ parenting practices include individual psychological level, family of origin level, and socio-cultural level, which can be positive or negative influence. Finally, the implications and suggestions can be provided for future research and counseling social welfare services for divorced single fathers.