中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: For dual-earner couples who both face many daily life demands, young children have traditionally been viewed as a demand on their parents; the positive role of young children has long been neglected. This study examined the effects of young children's heartwarming behaviors on parents' well-being, taking daily life demands into consideration. Methods: The data was drawn from a ”work and family” longitudinal study. This sample included 209 pairs of couples who both have full-time jobs and an oldest child at a preschool age. The mean ages of fathers and mothers were between 35 and 38. Daily life demands included work (working hours and time flexibility), family (number of children, age of youngest child, and spousal working hours), daily sleeping hours, and level of leisure time. Children's heart-warming behaviors assessed caring conversations, actions, and the physical contact that parents perceived from their child. Parental well-being included depression and marital satisfaction. Results: Results showed that mothers perceived a significantly higher level of heart-warming behavior than fathers. After controlling for daily life demands, children's heart-warming behavior significantly predicted fathers' depression, fathers' marital satisfaction, and mothers' marital satisfaction. The more heart-warming behavior parents perceived, the lower the fathers' depression, and the higher the fathers' and mothers' marital satisfaction. Conclusions: The positive role of young children on parents' well-being was supported in this study.