Effects of Household Income and Rate of Consumption-Oriented Spending on Children on Mother's Parenting Stress: A Short-term Longitudinal Study Using a Latent Growth Model

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal influence of household income and the rate of consumption-oriented spending on children on changes in parenting stress of mothers with young children. Methods Data from the 5th year (2012), 6th year (2013), and 7th year (2014) of the Panel Study on Korean Children were used for analysis. The main subjects of the survey were 2,150 mothers who were raising young children, and a Latent Growth Model was verified using the survey data at times when the children were 3, 4, and 5 years old. Results From the results of analysis, first, the mother's parenting stress in early childhood follows a gradually decreasing trajectory. Second, the higher the household income, the lower the parenting stress of mothers with very young children. The mother's parenting stress was found to decrease slowly with time in low-income families. Third, in early childhood, the higher the child support costs, the higher the parenting stress, but over time, the parenting stress of a mother with a low child support rate decreases slowly. Conclusion This study confirms that household income and consumption spending for children function not only as physical deficits but also psychological disturbances. Therefore, to alleviate the burden of child rearing experiences in early childhood, it is necessary to strengthen the publicity of Childrearing Services, which can fill gaps in the parenting environment. Keywords: parenting stress, household income, consumption spending for children, Latent Growth Model, early childhood