The Mediating Effects of Maternal Parenting Stress on the Relationships Between Behavior Problems of Infants With Mental Disorders and Maternal Anxiety Symptoms

Abstract

This study investigated the mediating effects of maternal parenting stress on the effect of the behavior problems of infants with mental disorders on maternal anxiety symptoms. To this end, research data were collected from 119 mothers and their children aged between 18 and 71 months who had been diagnosed with mental disorder. For the research, the mothers evaluated the problem behaviors of their children using K-CBCL 1.5-5 and themselves with K-PSI and MMPI-2. The results of this study were as follows. First, as a result of analyzing the correlations of major variables, the infants’ behavior problems had significant positive correlations with the total scores of maternal parenting stress child and parent domain stress and maternal anxiety symptoms. The total score of maternal parenting stress and child and parent domain stress also showed a significant positive correlations with maternal anxiety symptoms. Second, as a result of verifying the mediating effect of maternal parenting stress on the relationship between the infants’ behavior problems and maternal anxiety symptoms, the mediating effects of the total score of parenting stress and a sub-factor, parent domain stress, were significant on the relationships between the behavior problems and maternal anxiety symptoms. This study has significance in exploring the mediating effects of maternal parenting stress on the relationships between the behavior problems of infants with mental disorders and maternal anxiety symptoms and expanding research on maternal anxiety symptoms by specifying parenting stress.