The Mediating Role of Self-Differentiation and Parental Reflection in the Relationship Between Mother’s Own Childhood Overprotection Experience and Her Parenting Behavior

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to determine how mothers’ parenting experiences affect their attitudes toward raising children. Specifically, it examines how the experience of being raised by overprotective parents affects a mother’s parenting behavior and analyzes the structural relationship and impact of self-differentiation and parental reflection variables on the relationship between the two variables.Methods: The study participants were mothers of infants found through children's institutions located in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do. The institutions had been selected randomly and consent was obtained from all participants. A total of 374 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and SPSS PROCESS macro.Results: First, it was confirmed that self-differentiation completely mediated the relationship between mothers’ childhood overprotection experience and mothers’ negative parenting behavior through self-differentiation. Second, it was confirmed that parental reflection regulates the relationship between mothers’ childhood overprotection experience and self-differentiation. Third, the statistical significance of the controlled mediating effect of parental reflection was confirmed in the path in which the mother's childhood overprotection affected parenting behavior through self-differentiation. This suggests that, even if the mother was overprotected as a child and has a low level of self-differentiation, enhancing parental reflection can reduce negative parenting behaior.Conclusion: This study is meaningful in that it discovered the possibility of modifying the process of negative parenting behavior between generations through the parental reflection function. In addition, the fundamental limitations of the previous parental education were revised and suggestions were made for the development of parental education programs that involve the parental reflection functions.