Abstract

This study investigated the generation process with 250 married adult children's families across three generations. Bowen(1978) emphasized the importance of healthy generation process through researches on pathologically intergenerational transmission of the multiple generations families. In contrast, the present study focused both healthy and pathological aspects of intergenerational transmission with a consideration on relationship between positive emotions (e.g., happiness) and negative emotions (e.g., anxiety) that result from which the level of family differentiation is transmitted from one generation co the next. It was found that the level of family differentiation was transmitted from one generation co the next and that both anxiety and happiness was significantly mediated in the intergenerational transmission process of family differentiation levels. At the level of family differentiation in parental subsystem, both anxiety and happiness was influenced by the process of intergenerational transmission among G1 and G2, G2 and G3. However, at each level of family differentiation in father/adult children subsystem and mother/adult children subsystem, either anxiety or happiness wasn't mediated by the process of intergenerational transmission among G1 and G2, while at the level of family differentiation in father/adult children subsystem, both anxiety and happiness was influenced directly and in mother/adult children subsystem was mediated indirectly by the process of intergenerational transmission among G2 and G3.