- 期刊
中年單身者的個人特徵、家庭關係與社會參與
Individual Characteristics, Family Relations, and Social Participation for Middle-Aged Always-Single Persons in Taiwan
摘要
臺灣近30年生育與婚姻行為有很大的改變，晚婚晚育普遍，終生未婚率逐年攀升，預示未來有更多中高齡未婚者。本研究試圖多面向瞭解單身者，包括：從個人層次瞭解人口與社會特徵、從家庭層次瞭解居住安排與家庭關係、從社會層次瞭解社會支持與社會參與。本研究使用「臺灣社會變遷基本調查」1991-2016年六期「家庭」組、2002與2012年「性別」組、2017年「網路與社會資源」組等資料，另輔以1990-2010年三期「人口及住宅普查」資料，分析40-59歲者，將婚姻狀況分為「單身組」與「曾婚組」。研究結果顯示：一、個人層次上，雖個人社經條件對是否單身的影響仍因性別不同，但單身男女性的特定形象愈來愈弱。二、家庭層次上，單身男性獨居相對比例下降，單身男女與父母同住比例皆上升。單身者提供父母協助增加，特別是單身女性，蘊含女性承擔愈來愈多老年父母照顧工作。不過整體而言，父母提供單身子女的幫助也較曾婚子女多。三、社會層次上，單身組相對曾婚組有較多家人以外之社會支持，而且支持內容有性別差異，單身男性多為尋求家務協助，女性多為情感依附。與家人以外朋友聚餐的頻率，曾婚女性最低，顯示婚姻對於女性社交範圍的限制，在社會團體活動參與上，中年單身男性的社會參與範圍則較為局限。
並列摘要
Over the past 30 years, marriage and birth behaviors have gone through tremendous change in Taiwan. Not only are people delaying marriage and birth, but rate of lifetime singlehood has increased as well, thus projecting a higher prevalence of the always-single. This study explores different aspects of the always-single, including their (1) demographic characteristics on the individual level, (2) living arrangements and family relations on the family level, and (3) social support and social participation on the societal level. We use six datasets from the Taiwan Social Change Survey 1991-2016 (included "Family" and "Gender" Modules), the "Social Network and Social Resources" Module in Taiwan Social Change Survey 2017, and Population and Housing Census of 1991, 2000, and 2010. In our samples, we divide marriage status into the "always-single," who are single and have no children and the "ever-married," which includes the married, separated, divorced, and windowed. To lower the influence of future change of marriage status, we limit the sample cohort to 40-59 years of age. Results show that (1) on the individual level, even though the influence of social and economic status on being single still exhibits gender differences, the image of single men being losers and single women being successful and career-oriented has weakened. (2) On the family level, the most obvious change is the decrease of single men living alone, and the increase of living with parents for both single men and women. Meanwhile, single children provide increased assistance to their parents, especially in the case of single women, which implies care for the elderly is still a women's job. However, parents provide more assistance to single children than ever-married children as well. (3) On the societal level, the always-single have more social support than the ever-married, and this social support shows gender differences. Single men tend to seek help related to housework, while single women's requests for help are more affection and emotion-based. The frequency of ever-married women going to gatherings other than with family members is the lowest. This supports the notion that women's social contact drops drastically after marriage. For the frequency of engaging in social activities, single men are obviously lower than the others, which shows their tendency to shut themselves in at home.