中年人的生活事件與中年危機之研究

Abstract

本研究旨在探討中年人的生活事件與中年危機之關係。研究採取問卷調查法，針對40-64歲的中年人為對象，以立意取樣的方式獲得有效樣本523份。主要的研究發現如下： 一、中年人的生活事件發生次數、生活事件影響程度 中年人過去一年內發生的生活事件並不算多，而發生百分比較高的生活事件中，以「負向生活事件」最多，其次為「輕微生活事件」。至於「負向生活事件」之中，又以親人生病、住院、死亡或是個人財務危機等事件的發生比例最高，另外，「輕微生活事件」，則是與配偶、子女的衝突最多。在生活事件影響程度方面，一些重大生活事件如結婚、生小孩、親人生病、親人死亡、離婚、外遇、失業、財務危機等對於生活都有較大的影響，其中又以「負向生活事件影響程度」的平均影響程度較高。 二、不同背景變項的中年人，在生活事件發生次數、生活事件影響程度之差異 性別對中年人的「生活事件總數」、「輕微生活事件數」有顯著差異，而且是中年女性的「生活事件總數」、「輕微生活事件數」高於中年男性。年齡對中年人的「正向生活事件數」、「負向生活事件數」、「中性生活事件數」、「生活事件總影響程度」有顯著差異。其中，55-64歲中年人的「正向生活事件數」、「中性生活事件數」都高於其他年齡的中年人。 三、中年人的中年危機 中年人的中年危機感受並不強烈，而最令他們感受到不安的現象，都是與擔心老化、擔憂老年生活、時間流逝有關。 四、不同背景變項的中年人在中年危機之差異 教育程度、經濟狀況對中年人的「中年危機」有顯著差異，而且大學教育程度以上及個人收入在70,001元以上的中年人，其「中年危機」感受低於其他受訪中年人。 五、中年人的生活事件與中年危機之關係 中年人的「輕微生活事件數」、「中性生活事件影響程度」與「中年危機」達到顯著相關。亦即，中年人在過去一年內發生的輕微生活事件愈多，中年危機感受愈強烈；中年人感受到中性生活事件對生活帶來的影響程度愈大，中年危機感受愈強烈。 最後，依據研究結果，分別針對中年人、家庭生活教育、未來研究方向提出具體建議。The purpose of this study is to explore the relation between middle-agers’ life events and midlife crisis. This study had been conducted by questionnaire, and the targets were middle-agers ranging from 40 to 64 years old; by purposive sampling, 523 effective samples had been obtained. The main results from this study have been discovered as follows:

1. The frequency of middle-agers’ life events, and to what influencing extent these life events had In the past one year, there were not many events happened in middle-agers’ life; however, among the life events of high ratio of frequency, most were “negative life events”, and “minor life events” secondly. As for “negative life events”, the events occupying the highest ratio were the events such as relatives’ being ill, hospitalized or dead, or personal financial crisis; besides, in “minor life events”, the events of high frequency were conflicts with their spouse and offspring. As to the influencing extent these life events had, some significant life events would have great impact on their life, such as getting married, giving birth to a baby, relative being sick, relatives’ death, divorce, extramarital relation, unemployment, financial crisis, etc.; among these events, “the influencing extent made by negative life events” ranked the highest in the average influencing extent.

2. For middle-agers of different backgrounds as variation, the difference on the frequency of life events and the influencing extent made by life events For middle-agers, gender has made significant difference on “the total number of life events” and “the number of minor life events”; furthermore, “the total number of life events” and “ the number of minor life events” of female middle-agers have been many more than those of male middle-agers. Age has made significant difference on middle-agers’ “the number of positive life events ”, “the number of negative life events”, “ the number of neutral life events” and “ the total influencing extent made by life events”. Among them, “the number of positive life events ”and “ the number of neutral life events” of middle-agers ranging from 55 to 64 years old have been higher than those of middle-agers of other ages.

3. A middle-ager’s midlife crisis The middle-agers would not have quite strong feeling about midlife crisis; however, the most phenomenon that would make them feel uneasy were all related to worries about aging, aged life and time passing.

4. For middle-agers of different backgrounds in variation, the difference on midlife crisis Education and financial status have made significant difference on middle-ager’s midlife crisis. Furthermore, the middle-agers who had received education of university above with their personal income more than 70,001 have less feeling about midlife crisis than other interviewed middle-agers.

5. The relation between the middle-agers’ life events and the midlife crisis There were significant relation between “the number of minor life events”, “ the influencing extent made by neutral life events” and “midlife crisis”. Namely, if more minor life events happened in middle-agers’ life in the past one year, the more sense of midlife crisis they would feel; also, if middle-agers have greater sense about the influencing extent brought by neutral life events to their life, they would have stronger feeling about midlife crisis.

Finally, according to the result of this study, some concrete suggestions have been provided respectively for middle-agers, family life education, and the direction for study in the future.