Research On The Life Adaptation Of Parents Left Behind

Based on a phenomenological tradition of qualitative approach, this study focuses on the phenomenon that lots of only children study abroad and leave their parents in China, uses the method of depth interview to know these left-behind parents' experience about adaptation, and then explore the influence factors in life adaptation process.In the study, it is found that after the only children went abroad, parents need to adapt to the life in psychology, relationship, expense and so on, and the adaptive strategy they use presents the characteristics of dynamic and staged, which constitute the process of adapting to life. In this process, most of families start form maladjustment to basic adaptation, then even to full adaptation. The process means that the family recovers from changing family structure and unbalanced family relationship, so as to achieve stability and balance, as well as the function of family.In the process of life adaptation of left-behind parents, some factors will impact their adaptive strategy and result, such as family education mode, relationship between husband and wife, pressure about expense and family crisis. In detail, first from the family education mode aside, more democratic family will have better life adaptation. Second, the relationship between husband and wife effects the result of life adaptation by ways of impacting marital satisfaction, and most of couples have more intimate relationship after children leave home, and that will make positive influence to the left-behind life, with the ascension of life satisfaction. Third, looking from expense pressure, it can cause different dignities and strategise to different families who have unequal job occupation and income level, and even effect differently to husband and wife. Last, family crisis will also have a greater negative impact to parents' life adaptation. What is more, social theories are used to explain how the factors work.