児童養護施設退所者の家族形成経験―「子ども期」と「家族形成」をめぐる解釈実践に焦点をあてて―

抄録

This study examined how individuals who resided in child-welfare institutions interpreted their childhood experiences and how those experiences were associated with or dissociated from their own family formation, as reported through their narratives on marriage. The research focused on former residents of child-welfare institutions who married or engaged in romantic relationships with the goal of marriage. Using semi-structured interviews, the study explored participants’ interpretative practices in terms of their childhood experiences and family formation, drawing on Holstein’s (1993) framework. Study findings revealed that some participants described their child-welfare institution and biological family experiences with characterizations such as “family fragmentation,” “negative experiences with their original family,” or saw their biological family as a “negative model.” These individuals’ interpretative practices linked their experiences to a strong desire for family formation. Others associated post-institutional experiences, including “feelings of loneliness” and “unstable housing conditions,” with their aspirations for family formation. Still others referred to experiences of domestic violence, parental conflict, or abuse in their biological families; the interpretative practices of those participants led to fears of rejection and lack of understanding, resulting in narratives expressing reluctance to form a family. In contrast to these associations, a group of participants engaged in interpretative practices that dissociated their concept of family from their childhood experiences in child-welfare institutions. The varied findings suggested that the narratives and interpretative practices regarding family formation among former residents of child-welfare institutions did not uniformly reflect a desire to eliminate stigma or attain a “normal family.” Rather, they demonstrated diverse perspectives and aspirations that challenged uniform assumptions.