Effects of Mothers’ Democratic Parenting on Their Children’s School Life Adjustment: Mediating Effects of Children’s Behavioral Problem and Self-Resilience Perceived by Children

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The study examined whether children’s behavioral problem and self-resilience mediated the association between mothers’ democratic parenting and their children’s school life adjustment perceived by children. We analyzed data from the fourth Korean Children and Youth Panel Study (KCYPS) that included democratic parenting, behavioral problem, self-resilience, and school life adjustment by 1,971 mothers and fourth grade elementary school children. We identified structural relationships among the variables using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 applying structural equation modeling. The measurement model and structure model had a favorable goodness of fit and the results of structure models on each path were as follows. First, school life adjustment had positive correlations with mother’s democratic parenting and self-resilience, but there was a negative correlation between school life adjustment and behavioral problems. Second, the relationship between mother’s democratic parenting and self-resilience was mediated by behavioral problems and behavioral problems; in addition, self-resilience mediated the relationship between mother’s democratic parenting and school life adjustment. The results of this study suggested that children’s school life adjustment and children’s confidence to control behavioral problems could improve by promoting self-resilience. If fourth grade children could perceive mother’s parenting as affection, monitoring children’s behavioral problems could be reduced, and children’s self-resilience and school life adjustment could be increased. Keywords: mother’s democratic parenting, behavioral problem, self-resilience, school life adjustment