Life course effects on marital stability: Experience of remarried Mainland Chinese migrant women in Hong Kong

The proportion of Mainland Chinese women in cross-border remarriages has more than tripled over the past three decades. Meanwhile, the number of divorces among local and cross-border marriages have also increased. Yet, little is known about the specific challenges encountered by cross-border stepfamilies or the factors that affect the stability of remarriages.
Using a triangulation of focus group and in-depth interviews, this study aims to uncover the unique challenges encountered by remarried Mainland mothers and their families, as well as the factors and processes that may enhance marital stability or reduce conflicts in cross-border stepfamilies. It specifically focuses on the roles of mothers and nonshared and common children in these processes and within-group differences in stepfamily stability based on the life course. It also investigates the effect of immigration and related social policies on the stability of cross-border stepfamilies.
跨境婚姻中再婚的內地女性在過去三十年來增加了超過三倍，同時，香港本地婚姻和跨境婚姻的離婚率也不斷增加。然而，跨境繼親家庭所遭遇的挑戰及影響再婚穩定性的因素仍然鮮為人知。
此研究採用焦點小組及深入訪談等定性的研究方法，以揭示再婚內地母親及其家庭所經受的獨特挑戰，並探索導致此類家庭不穩定的因素及過程。本研究將聚焦於母親、其與前夫所生子女以及與香港配偶所生子女在當中所扮演的角色，此外，也將探討這些繼親家庭之間因其成員生命歷程不同而存在的差異，以及移民政策與相關社會政策對跨境繼親家庭的婚姻穩定性所造成的影響。Copyright © 2018 Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office.