아동이 경험하는 부모의 사랑에 관한 연구

A study on the children’s experiences of parental love

This study seeks to explore how children perceive and experience parental love. Exploring parental love from the child's perspective broadens the existing framework, which traditionally sees parent-child relationships through a parent-centric lens of child rearing and affection. To examine children’s perceived experience of parental love and its significance, in-depth interview data was collected and analyzed using a phenomenological method. This study conducted in-depth interviews with 10 children between grades 4-6 enrolled in elementary schools in Seoul and Gwangju. Participant children were asked to describe their experiences of parental love in daily lives, which was divided into three categories, eight sub-themes, and 21 semantic elements. The three broad categories consist of ‘specific love,’ ‘natural love,’ and ‘various love’ with each encompassing a sub-theme. Specific love includes ‘giving what I want,’ ‘understanding my mind,’ and ‘staying with me;’ Natural love involves ‘sacrifices’ and ‘natural duty;’ and Various love captures ‘motherly love & fatherly love,’ and ‘various expressions of love.’ The characteristics of parental love as experienced by children are summarized and discussed, with a focus on interpreting the themes from a child development perspective. The differences between the parental love experienced by children and the affection in parent-centered parenting are also explained, along with suggestions for future child-centered research.