Mothers’ parenting stress in Chinese immigrant families: the role of fathers’ involvement and social support

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using a cross-sectional research design, 152 Chinese immigrant mothers and 45 fathers living in the United States completed a previously validated online survey examining how fathers’ involvement in childcare, mothers’ perceptions of social support and reported self-efficacy were related to mothers’ parenting stress. The study purpose was to investigate the association between mothers’ reports of parenting stress and two sources of parenting support: mothers’ reports of fathers’ involvement and social support. A regression analysis examining the extent to which mothers’ reports of father involvement and perceived social support influenced Chinese immigrant mothers’ reported parenting stress showed that fathers’ emotional involvement was a significant predictor of mothers’ parenting stress. Mothers’ perceived social support was a stronger predictor, accounting for more variance in parenting stress than reports of fathers’ involvement across all the five dimensions. The mediating role of mothers’ self-efficacy on the relation between fathers’ involvement and mothers’ parenting stress was tested. Mothers’ self-efficacy did not account for the association between Chinese immigrant mothers’ reports of fathers’ involvement across five dimensions and mothers’ parenting stress. In conclusion, these findings herein suggest both father involvement and social support from significant others may influence Chinese immigrant mothers’ experiences of parenting stress.