Incongruity with modern child-rearing styles experi-enced by older women doing parent-child support activities.

Abstract

This preliminary study explored the sense of incongruity regarding current child-rearing styles, which is felt by middle-aged and elderly women engaged in parent-child support activities in the community. Narratives gained through semi-structured interviews with four women having child-rearing experience were qualitatively analyzed. Results indicated six conceptual catego-ries: excessive parents' demands, weakened parental autonomy, qualitative changes in the child, weakened parent-child relationships, diversification of family style and society, and weakened mutuality and maintaining for the next generation. Changes in consciousness regarding parental roles and parent-child relationships are proposed as the background to such incongruity. Narratives on such incongruity are discussed on the basis of the theoretical framework of generativity proposed by McAdams and de St. Aubin.