The purpose of this study was to within a Swedish context and from five persons of foreign descent stories study how they have been affected by interpreting for their parents during their childhood and how this has affected the relationships within the family. Studies conducted in an American context have shown that children interpreting for their parents in everyday situations are prone to undertake roles similar of a family leader. Previous studies also show an increased danger of depression among children who interpreted for their parents. The study was conducted by the use of semi-structured interviews with five male respondents with a varying ethnic background. Using Antonovsky´s theoretical formulation ”sense of coherence” we were able to determine that although our respondents during their childhood were subjected to a large amount of stressful elements they also maintained a high sense of well-being. With the help of Erving Goffman´s roll theory we have concluded that although traditional family roles seems to remain intact there is an element within the interpreting process in these families were a shift in family roles can occur and children will identify themselves as the family leader. In conclusion we have found that our respondents have experienced that interpreting for parents has been stressful but through strong family bonds and a high sense of meaningfulness in helping their parents our respondents have maintained a high sense of well-being. Usually the respondents would not take a leading role in the family due to a high sense of respect of their parents and due to the fact that their parents would not let them make any actual decisions regarding family matters.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-21190 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Norling, Anders, Johansson, Markus |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete, SA, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete, SA |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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