A Study on Females’ Role Transformation and Adaptation in New Empty Nest Families: Illustrated by the Case of 7 Chinese Female

A Study on Females’ Role Transformation and Adaptation in New Empty Nest Families: Illustrated by the Case of 7 Chinese Female

Influenced by the family planning policy, the empty nest families in China present middle-aged characteristics. This paper, through depth interview of the Chinese women whose empty nest period and menopause are overlapped, finds that the new “empty nest” females would go through four phases when they change their roles, which are role confusion period, role identity period, role acceptance period and role adjustment period. Moreover, this paper holds that the role change of females in empty nest period is not only a personal problem, but also a national and social problem. Therefore, it is necessary to intervene from the policy, the system and the society, to provide social work services for them, so as to ensure the realization of women’s rights.