a Athenaeum Centre for Family Studies and Research, Catholic University of Sacred Heart , Milan , Italy.
Int J Psychol. 2013;48(6):1196-200. doi: 10.1080/00207594.2012.725131. Epub 2012 Sep 27.
Since the 1990s researchers have considered as the dominant view on family obligation a set of responsibilities, duties, and obligation of care and assistance,that adult children should assume when parents are old or infirm. This concept is limited, because it assumes that family obligation is salient only in one period of life: when parents reach old age and are infirm. In contrast, a relational approach to family obligation considers family relationships as central to understanding children's duties and responsibilities. Following Stein, family obligation can be defined as felt obligation: expectations for appropriate and negotiated behaviour, perceived within the context of specific personal relationships with kin across life course. Felt obligation is conceptualized in five dimensions: a duty to maintain contact, assistance, avoidance of conflict, personal sharing, and self-sufficiency. The purpose of the present study was to analyze perceptions of felt obligation in intergenerational relationships (parent-child and family of origin) in different phases of the family life cycle in a specific cultural context (Italy). The sample was composed of 92 parents with children of different ages (infants, school-aged children, and young adults).The measure addressed the five dimensions of felt obligation, all assessed in various phases of family life. Results indicated differences in dimensions of felt obligation between intergenerational relationships (both parent-child and with family of origin). Some of these differences, such as self-sufficiency and personal sharing, assumed more importance and salience in some periods of the life cycle than in others.
自 20 世纪 90 年代以来，研究人员一直将一系列责任、义务和照顾与援助的义务视为家庭义务的主导观点，即成年子女在父母年老或体弱时应承担的义务。这种概念是有限的，因为它假设家庭义务只在一个生命阶段才是突出的：当父母年老体弱时。相比之下，一种关系方法的家庭义务将家庭关系视为理解子女的职责和责任的核心。根据斯坦因的观点，家庭义务可以被定义为感受到的义务：在特定的个人关系背景下，对适当和协商行为的期望，与亲属在整个生命周期中存在。感受到的义务在五个维度上进行了概念化：保持联系、援助、避免冲突、个人分享和自给自足的义务。本研究的目的是在特定文化背景下（意大利），在家庭生命周期的不同阶段分析代际关系（父母与子女和原生家庭）中感受到的义务的看法。样本由 92 名父母和不同年龄的孩子（婴儿、学龄儿童和年轻成年人）组成。该测量方法涉及感受到的义务的五个维度，所有维度都在家庭生活的不同阶段进行评估。结果表明，代际关系（亲子关系和原生家庭关系）之间的感受到的义务维度存在差异。这些差异中的一些，如自给自足和个人分享，在生命周期的某些阶段比其他阶段更重要和突出。
