探討父母婚姻狀況、祖父母支持與青少年焦慮之關聯-以新北市和桃園市之青少年為例

Abstract

研究背景及目的：焦慮已成為青少年心理健康的重要問題，近年來受到世界各國重視。研究證實父母婚姻狀況與青少年焦慮之間有相關性，祖父母支持有可能在父母婚姻狀況不穩定的情況下發揮保護作用，減少對青少年焦慮的程度。然而，過去研究在探討祖父母支持時，常僅以祖母支持為主，較少將祖父支持納入。因此本研究目的乃探討祖父支持和祖母支持與青少年焦慮之關聯，在不同父母婚姻狀況下是否有差異。研究方法：本研究之對象為1,337位新北市與桃園市的國高中生。研究之依變項為焦慮程度，主要自變項為父母婚姻狀況及祖父支持和祖母支持。控制變項為個人背景因素。運用描述性統計、獨立樣本t檢定、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積分相關、及多元線性複迴歸分析進行次級資料分析。

研究結果： 一、研究對象過去一週焦慮程度的平均值為1.758（範圍為1至5分）。 二、有77.5% 的研究對象有祖父支持；有94.4% 的研究對象有祖母支持，且祖母支持的平均分數高於祖父支持。 三、有19.5% 的研究對象父母婚姻狀況為非結婚（包括離婚、分居，及未婚）。 四、研究對象的焦慮程度會因性別、學校層級、父親工作狀況、自覺家中經濟狀況、父母婚姻狀況之不同而有所差異，但不會因為父母最高教育程度不同而有差異。 五、研究對象焦慮程度與家庭衝突為正相關；與祖父支持及祖母支持為負相關。 六、根據多元線性複迴歸分析的結果，性別為女生、學校層級為高中職、自覺家中經濟狀況為不好和家庭衝突均為焦慮程度的危險因子。 七、控制背景因素後，在祖父及祖母支持均有的研究對象中，祖父支持為研究對象焦慮的保護因子，尤其在父母婚姻為結婚狀況的研究對象中，祖父支持愈高，研究對象的焦慮程度愈低。八、控制背景因素後，父母婚姻狀況對僅有祖母支持之研究對象其焦慮程度具有調節效果，即當父母婚姻狀況為非結婚的研究對象中，其祖母支持較高時，研究對象的焦慮程度較低，具有緩衝保護的作用。結論與建議：研究結果發現祖父支持在已婚父母家庭且祖母支持亦存在的情況下，對青少年焦慮有保護效果；祖母支持則是在父母處於非結婚狀態的家庭中具有保護效果。本研究結果有助於未來發展預防青少年焦慮介入方案時，可將祖父母納為介入對象，並發展針對祖父母的教育方案，以促進青少年正向發展的結果。另外，建議未來的研究，可考慮進一步區分父系和母系祖父母的差異，以檢視並比較其對青少年焦慮的影響。由於社會支持與心理健康之間的關聯似乎是雙向的，建議未來可以透過縱貫研究，利用長時間的追蹤，從中可以更好掌握及觀察研究對象隨著時間的推移所演變的因果關係。Background and Objectives: In recent years, countries have displayed a growing concern regarding the significant issue of anxiety in adolescent mental health. Previous research has suggested that parental marriage status is linked to adolescent anxiety. Grandparental support has the potential to act as a protective factor, particularly in the context of unstable parental marriage status, thereby mitigating anxiety levels in adolescents. Nevertheless, prior studies have predominantly focused on the impact of grandmother's support on adolescents' anxiety while overlooking the potential effects of grandfather's support. Hence, this study aims to investigate the relationship between both grandfather's support and grandmother's support and their association with adolescents' anxiety across various parental marriage statuses.

Methods: The study comprised 1,337 junior and senior high school students from New Taipei City and Taoyuan City. The dependent variable assessed was "anxiety level," while the independent variables included"parental marriage status," "grandfather's support," and "grandmother's support." The individual background factors were included as control variables. Descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple linear regression models were utilized to analyze the secondary data.

Results: 1.The participants' average anxiety level in the past week was 1.758 on a scale of 1 to 5. 2.Among the participants, 77.5% had grandfather's support, and 94.4% had grandmother's support, with the average score for grandmother's support being higher than that for grandfather's support. 3.Approximately 19.5% of the participants had parents whose marriage status was unmarried, including divorced, separated, or never married. 4.The participants' anxiety levels varied across gender, school level, father's employment status, perceived family economic status, and parental marriage status, but not the highest education level of the parents. 5.The anxiety levels of the participants exhibited a positive correlation with family conflict and negative correlations with both grandfather's and grandmother's support. 6.Based on the results of multiple linear regression analysis, female students, senior high school students, those who perceived poor financial status, and those experiencing higher levels of family conflict had a higher level of anxiety compared to their counterparts. 7.After controlling for background factors, among the participants who received both grandfather's and grandmother's support, grandfather's support served as a protective factor for their anxiety levels. This protective effect was particularly significant among participants whose parents were married, with higher levels of grandfather's support being associated with lower levels of anxiety. 8.After controlling for background factors, parental marriage status exhibited a moderating effect on the relationship between grandparental support from grandmothers and anxiety levels in the participants. Specifically, when parents were unmarried, higher levels of grandmother's support were associated with lower levels of anxiety, indicating a buffering protective effect.

Conclusion and Recommendation: The results revealed that grandfather's support has a protective effect on adolescent anxiety when parents are married and when grandmother's support is also present. On the other hand, grandmother's support has a protective effect when parents are unmarried. These findings provide valuable insights for the future development of preventive interventions targeting adolescent anxiety. It is suggested to include grandparents as the target of interventions and to design educational programs specifically tailored to them, with the aim of promoting positive developmental outcomes in adolescents. Furthermore, for future research, it is advised to further distinguish between paternal and maternal grandparents to examine and compare their respective impacts on adolescent anxiety. Given the bidirectional nature of the association between social support and mental health, it is recommended that future research utilizes longitudinal studies with extended follow-up periods. By doing so, researchers can better grasp and observe the evolving causal relationships among the study participants over time. These longitudinal studies would provide a deeper understanding of the long-term effects of grandparental support on adolescent mental health and well-being.