Parenting Efficacy and Health-promoting Behaviors for Children of Mothers from Native and Multicultural Families in Korea

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the levels of parenting efficacy and health-promoting behaviors for children of mothers, and to explore the relationships between parenting efficacy and the behaviors of mothers from native and multicultural families in South Korea. Data was collected by a self-report questionnaire completed by 258 mothers who had 6-month to 36-month-old children attending kindergartens or multicultural family support centers located in Seoul and in Gyeounggi Province, South Korea. No significant difference in parenting efficacy was found, depending on the maternal country of origin. However, Chinese mothers performed health-promoting behaviors more frequently for their children than Korean and Vietnamese mothers did (F=6.87, p<.001). The significant positive correlations between parenting efficacy and maternal health-promoting behaviors for children were found, regardless of maternal country of origin (r=.57, p<.001 for Korean, r=.42, p<.001 for Chinese, and r=.40, p<.001 for Vietnamese mothers). Since maternal health-promoting behaviors were different depending on the native country of the mothers, maternal country of origin should be considered in designing programs for improving maternal health-promoting behaviors for their children. In addition, increasing the level of parenting efficacy can be an effective way for improvement of maternal health-promoting behaviors.