The Influence of Perception Gap of Dual-Income Parents about Paternal Involvement on Marital Conflict: Mediating Effects of Maternal Self-Efficacy and Depression

Abstract

The study was examined the multiple mediated effects of maternal self-efficacy and depression between perception gap about paternal involvement and marital conflict for dual-income parents. The data used were the fifth year data of the Panel Study on Korean Children from Korea Institute of Child Care and Education in 2012. The subjects consisted of 449 dual-income parents with more than one child. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, paired t-test, and correlation. SPSS macro and bootstrapping methods also assessed the mediation effects of maternal self-efficacy and depression between the perception gap about paternal involvement and marital conflict in dual-income parents. The results of this study were as follows. Significant positive correlations were observed for marital conflict, perception gap of dual-income parents about paternal involvement and maternal depression. Perception gaps by parents and self-efficacy were negatively correlated. Perception gaps by parents showed a direct effect on marital conflict. The results of indirect effects of all mediators showed the mediated effect of maternal self-efficacy and depression. The study revealed that the perceptive gap about paternal involvement has a significant impact on maternal self-efficacy and depression, as well as marital conflict. The perceptive gap of dual-income parents about paternal involvement has critical effects on marital conflict as much as the quantity of paternal involvement.