Regretting parenthood in a family friendly, ‘gender equal’ society: accounts from Swedish online forums

IF 1.4 4区社会学 Q3 FAMILY STUDIES

Journal of Family Studies Pub Date : 2022-12-13 DOI:10.1080/13229400.2022.2156379

Maja Bodin

{"title":"Regretting parenthood in a family friendly, ‘gender equal’ society: accounts from Swedish online forums","authors":"Maja Bodin","doi":"10.1080/13229400.2022.2156379","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the past decades, parents have used online forums to discuss challenges associated with parenthood, seeking support from other parents as well as professional advice. A highly sensitive topic discussed in these forums is regret about having children. Previous studies from various contexts have highlighted how regret, as expressed online, is often connected to difficulties of living up to and identifying with ideals of parenting, and that parenthood leads to feelings of exhaustion, entrapment and a negative self-image. In this article, I analyze how regret is expressed in two major Swedish online forums, including accounts from 142 parents. Sweden is a country that is often highlighted internationally as a pioneer in gender equality, with laws that protect sexual and reproductive rights and family- friendly policies that support parents in combining family life and work life. In light of this, I focus on the different decisions related to parenthood that people regret, the challenges and disappointments that family life has brought to parents, and the consequences that parenthood has had on their lives. I show how gender-equal parenting ideals are highly present in the discussions, and how they coexist and conflict with more traditional parenting behaviours and patterns.","PeriodicalId":46462,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Family Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":"2195 - 2212"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Family Studies","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2022.2156379","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the past decades, parents have used online forums to discuss challenges associated with parenthood, seeking support from other parents as well as professional advice. A highly sensitive topic discussed in these forums is regret about having children. Previous studies from various contexts have highlighted how regret, as expressed online, is often connected to difficulties of living up to and identifying with ideals of parenting, and that parenthood leads to feelings of exhaustion, entrapment and a negative self-image. In this article, I analyze how regret is expressed in two major Swedish online forums, including accounts from 142 parents. Sweden is a country that is often highlighted internationally as a pioneer in gender equality, with laws that protect sexual and reproductive rights and family- friendly policies that support parents in combining family life and work life. In light of this, I focus on the different decisions related to parenthood that people regret, the challenges and disappointments that family life has brought to parents, and the consequences that parenthood has had on their lives. I show how gender-equal parenting ideals are highly present in the discussions, and how they coexist and conflict with more traditional parenting behaviours and patterns.

查看原文本刊更多论文

在一个家庭友好、“性别平等”的社会里后悔做了父母:来自瑞典在线论坛的账户

在过去的几十年里，父母们利用网络论坛讨论与为人父母有关的挑战，寻求其他父母的支持以及专业建议。在这些论坛上讨论的一个高度敏感的话题是后悔生孩子。此前各种背景下的研究都强调了，在网上表达的后悔往往与难以实现和认同为人父母的理想有关，而为人父母会让人感到疲惫、陷入困境和消极的自我形象。在这篇文章中，我分析了瑞典两大网络论坛上的遗憾是如何表达的，其中包括142名父母的账户。瑞典在国际上经常被视为性别平等的先驱，其法律保护性权利和生殖权利，以及支持父母将家庭生活和工作生活结合起来的家庭友好政策。有鉴于此，我把重点放在人们后悔的与为人父母有关的不同决定上，家庭生活给父母带来的挑战和失望，以及为人父母对他们生活的影响。我展示了性别平等的育儿理念如何在讨论中高度存在，以及它们如何与更传统的育儿行为和模式共存和冲突。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Family Studies FAMILY STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

12.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Family Studies is a peer reviewed international journal under the Editorship of Adjunct Professor Lawrie Moloney, School of Public Health, LaTrobe University; Australian Institute of Family Studies; and co-director of Children in Focus. The focus of the Journal of Family Studies is on the wellbeing of children in families in the process of change.