Parenting Stress in Mothers with Only One Child in Toddler Stage

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine factors which influence maternal parenting stress. The subjects were 182 mothers with toddlers 12 to 36 months old living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province. The instruments used for this study were a self-report questionnaire, PDH(Parenting Daily Hassles), EAS(Emotionality, Activity, Sociability), Value of children by Lee et al., PAI(Parenting Alliance Inventory), and burden of the costs of children. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and Hierarchical multiple regression using the SPSS 18.0 program. The main results of this study were as follows: First, the mean score of activity temperament, emotional value of children and husband's support were higher than average. The mean score of Emotionality temperament, instrumental value of children, burden of the costs of children and maternal stress were average. Second, maternal parenting stress was positively correlated with emotionality temperament, mother's age, burden of the costs of children, and negatively correlated with emotional value of children, and instrumental value of children, husband's support. Third, emotionality temperament, husband's support, burden of the costs of children, maternal employment status, and instrumental value of children had an impact on maternal parenting stress. It is expected that the results of this study will contribute to providing basic data for establishing a policy to decrease maternal parenting stress.--