Longitudinal Study on Transactional and Mediational Relationships Between Mothers’ Happiness, Parenting Behaviors, and Children’s Happiness: Focus on the Transition from Kindergarten to Elementary School

Abstract

Objectives:The main purpose of this study was to explore longitudinal transactional and mediational relationships between mothers' happiness, parenting behaviors, and children's happiness during the transition from kindergarten to elementary school. Methods: This study used data from the 7th (T1) through 9th (T3) wave (2014)(2015)(2016) of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). Participants of this study were 1,302 mothers and their children, aged 6 to 8 years old. Data analysis was performed using autoregressive cross-lagged modeling. Results: First, the longitudinal transactional relationship was confirmed among mothers' happiness, maternal warmth, and children's happiness. Second, the longitudinal relationship between children's happiness at T1 and mothers' happiness at T3 was mediated by maternal warmth at T2. Finally, the longitudinal relationship between maternal warmth at T1 and mothers' happiness at T3 was mediated by children's happiness at T2. Conclusion:This study revealed longitudinal effects of transactional and mediational relationships on children, as well as on parents, in the transition period from kindergarten to elementary school. This finding highlighted the need for interventions to promote happiness of children at a familial level.

Factors Affecting the Life Satisfaction of School-Aged Children with Vietnamese Immigrant Mothers in Korea

“…In this study, the life satisfaction scores of 3.24 for boys and 3.23 for girls showed that there were no gender differences, which was similar to the findings of a previous study [30]. In this other study, there were no gender differences in life satisfaction during the elementary school years.…”

“…The age range of the participants in this study was 10 to 13 years old, which corresponded to grades four to six of elementary school. However, in another study [30], in the middle school period, boys scored higher than girls in the first year. In another study comparing the life satisfaction of adolescents, it was found that life satisfaction scores were significantly different according to gender in multicultural and nonmulticultural adolescents [31].…”

“…Although this study did not examine gender differences in the relationship between social support and life satisfaction, gender was found to be a non-significant factor in life satisfaction in the final regression analysis. This finding may be related to the fact that there were no significant gender differences in life satisfaction during the elementary school years [30].…”

“…The study found that acculturative stress had a significant negative impact on participants' life satisfaction, with a level of 1.23. In a study of adolescents from multicultural families, maternal acculturation stress negatively affected children's emotions [7] and mediated depression, which, in turn, negatively affected children's school adjustment [30]. Multicultural children experienced acculturation stress due to social prejudice, discrimination, and identity concerns, which led to school maladjustment and decreased life satisfaction [33].…”