40-2 The Development of Separation-Individuation of Adolescents Exposed to Marital Violence and Their Perceptions of Family Structures
This study aimed to explore the family structure of marital domestic violence from the perspective of adolescents who witnessed their parents' domestic violence and to explore the themes of these adolescents' separation-individuation processes. A phenomenology research method was adopted to analyze the interview transcripts reported by 9 participants. The results of the family structure showed that the participants paid a great deal of attention to their family members. In order to prevent and mediate conflict, they were often deeply involved at the expense of ignoring their own needs. While experiencing heavy psychological burdens pushed them away from home, an emotional tie and caring responsibility pulled them back intermittently. Witnessing violence between parents was extremely painful. In order to avoid repeated failure, the participants developed characters and behavior different from their parents. They also tended to support those who were in the disadvantaged group. On one hand, they were pushed to be independent from an early age. However, on the other hand, they still had a need to rely on and have intimacy with others. However, they could only keep a shallow relationship with others due to a lack of trust with others. Finally, based the process and outcomes of this study, we speculated our own reflections on this topic and provided relevant suggestions.
Keywords
adolescent ； domestic violence ； family structure ； marital violence ； separation-individuation
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