Maternal Life Satisfaction Research Articles

Relations Among Maternal Life Satisfaction, Shared Activities, and Child Well-Being.

Maternal well-being is assumed to be associated with well-being of individual family members, optimal parenting practices, and positive developmental outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between maternal well-being, parent-child activities, and the well-being of 5- to 7-year-old children. In a sample of N = 291 mother-child dyads, maternal life satisfaction, the frequency of shared parent-child activities, as well as children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were assessed using several methods. Data were collected in a special study of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a representative longitudinal survey of private households in Germany. Using structural equation modeling, significant positive direct and indirect relations between maternal life satisfaction, frequency of shared parent-child activities, children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were found. The more satisfied the mother was, the more she shared activities with her child and the more the child acted prosocially. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of shared parent-child activities, the higher the child scored in all three analyzed indicators of children’s well-being: self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary. The current study supports the assumption of maternal well-being as the basis of positive parenting practices and child well-being.

Maternal Life Satisfaction, Marital Status, and Child Skill Formation

I examine if the documented positive relationship between marriage and child outcomes represents a maternal life satisfaction effect. By treating life satisfaction and marital status as endogenous in the skill production process, I show that there is a distinct happiness and a distinct marriage effect; marriage increases cognitive skills and decreases conduct problems, while maternal happiness increases social and self-regulation skills to an equivalent of up to £ 38,000 per year. Thus, promoting healthy and happy marriages can be more effective than policies that promote marriage, and life satisfaction is an avenue through which non-married mothers can produce high quality children.

Social support, coping, and positive perceptions as potential protective factors for the well-being of mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Objectives: Behavioral and emotional problems exhibited by children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have been identified as significant stressors for family members in both cross-sectional and longitudinal research. However, there is variability in the extent to which family members are affected by behavioral and emotional problems. In the present study, we explored whether perceived social support, positive perceptions, or coping style explain some of this variability and specifically whether these three variables function as protective factors.Methods: One hundred and thirty-eight mothers of children aged between four and 18 years old with IDD participated in a cross-sectional survey.Results: Using moderated multiple regression models, we found consistent evidence that perceived social support functioned as a protective factor — affecting the relationship between child behavioral and emotional problems and maternal depression, life satisfaction, and positive affect. There was no evidence that coping and positive perceptions acted as a protective factors.Conclusion: Building social support through parental interventions, especially in families of children with behavioral and emotional problems, may result in improved well-being for mothers of children with IDD.

Perceived social support and self-esteem as mediators of the relationship between parental attachment and life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents

This study aimed to examine whether the relationship between adolescents' paternal and maternal attachment and life satisfaction was mediated by perceived social support and self-esteem and identify which mediator had a stronger indirect effect. The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were distributed to 1835 Chinese adolescents (nearly 50% male; 51% in junior-high school; aged 10–20years, M=14.831years, SD=2.923) from seven provinces. Descriptive statistics, regression, correlation, and mediation analyses were conducted to test our hypotheses. The results indicated that perceived social support and self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between paternal and maternal attachment and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the indirect effect of perceived social support was stronger than that of self-esteem. These findings perhaps provide insight into the preliminary effect of parental attachment on life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents.

Anger factors impacting on life satisfaction of mothers with young children in Korea: Does mother's age matter?

The relationship between adult anger and parent anger factors and maternal life satisfaction of mothers with young children and the moderation effect of maternal age on the relationship were examined. The participants were 325 mothers of young children and aged from 25 to 47 residing in metropolitan areas of Korea. Likert questionnaires requiring self-reporting by mothers, were used to examine mothers' experience of adult anger and parent anger as well as life satisfaction. The results of the study were as follows. First, both adult anger and parent anger predicted 10% of the variability of maternal life satisfaction and parent anger in the association with age improved the predictability to 22%. Second, adult anger management was positively associated with maternal life satisfaction while adult anger suppression was negatively associated with maternal life satisfaction. Third, the higher parent situational anger the mothers experienced, the lower life satisfaction they had and that was significant for young mothers only. The higher parent anger management difficulty mothers had, the lower life satisfaction they had and that was true for both young and old mothers.

부모의 삶의 만족도 및 우울이 아동의 자살생각에 미치는 영향

아동의 자살생각이 실제 자살로 연결될 가능성이 매우 높다는 측면에서 이 연구는 부모의 삶의 만족도 및 우울이 아동의 자살생각에 미치는 영향과 그에 대한 아동 자아존중감의 매개효과를 확인해 보고자 하였다. 아동의 자살생각과 관련하여 예측 변인으로 대부분 아동의 우울 변인을 사용하였고 부모의 우울을 포함한 연구는 아직까지 없었으며, 마찬가지로 아동의 발달에 미치는 전반적인 영향력에도 불구하고 부모의 삶의 만족도가 아동의 자살생각에도 긍정적인 영향을 미치는지 그동안 확인된 바가 없었다. 이를 위해 이 연구는 구조방정식을 활용하여 한국복지패널 7차년도 자료에 있는 아동 512명과 그 부모의 응답을 분석하였고, 분석 결과 모의 삶의 만족도만이 아동 자살생각에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 특히 모의 우울이 아닌, 모의 삶의 만족도가 아동의 자살생각에 영향을 미치되 아동의 자존감을 매개하지 않고도 아동의 자살생각 수준을 낮출 수 있는 요인임이 확인되었는데, 이러한 측면이 향후 아동 자살예방 노력 및 개입 프로그램에 고려될 필요가 있다고 여겨진다. This study sought to clarify the relation of children's suicidal ideation and parental depression/life satisfaction, and the mediating effect of the self-esteem in child. With regard to suicidal ideation in children, most studies have used children's depression as predictor, not parental depression. Similarly, parental life satisfaction have not been included in spite of its general influence on child development. Relations among these variables were examined in 512 children and their parents in <TEX>$7^{th}$</TEX> Korean welfare panel data using the structural equation model. Results showed that the maternal life satisfaction was the only significant factor affecting the suicidal ideation of children, no having the mediating effects of the self-esteem in child. The implication of these results and suggestions for intervention and prevention work, and future research are discussed.

Life Satisfaction Among Mothers of Individuals with Prader-Willi Syndrome.

Mothers of individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) often experience numerous stressors, even when compared to mothers of children with other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite this, these mothers show great variability in self-reported life satisfaction. Using data from a longitudinal study of individuals with PWS and their families, the present study analyzed factors related to maternal life satisfaction, both cross-sectionally and over time. Results show that both child factors (e.g., behavior problems, hyperphagia) and maternal factors (e.g., stress, coping style) were significantly related to maternal life satisfaction. However, none of the tested variables predicted change in life satisfaction over time. Research and practice implications are discussed.

Prosocial skills in young children with autism, and their mothers’ psychological well-being: Longitudinal relationships

The study aimed to explore the longitudinal association between prosocial skills in young children with an ASD and maternal psychological well-being. Participants were 132 children with autism drawn from the British Millennium Cohort Study (aged 9 months, 3 and 5 years). Three-wave cross-lagged structural equation models tested whether children's prosocial skills were reciprocally related to maternal psychological distress and life satisfaction. Findings indicated that relationships were not bidirectional, as both maternal outcomes were not associated with children's prosocial skills two years later. However, prosocial skills at 3 years were associated with improved maternal well-being (less distress and more life satisfaction) when children were 5-years-old. The study adds to the limited evidence base on bidirectional relationships between prosocial skills in ASD and proximal environmental variables. Findings highlight the importance of testing for reciprocal relationships rather than assuming unidirectional effects. In addition, they indicate that other-directed behaviors in children with autism have the potential to boost maternal well-being.

Universal Breadwinner Versus Universal Caregiver Model: Fathers' Involvement in Caregiving and Well-Being of Mothers of Offspring with Intellectual Disabilities.

The universal breadwinner model means both parents are employed; while the universal caregiver model implies that the father's hours of caregiving are equal or higher to those of the mother. This study aims to examine the hypothesis that the universal caregiver model is more related to the overall well-being of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities than the universal breadwinner model. Face-to-face interview surveys were conducted in 2011 in Taiwan with 876 working-age mothers who had an offspring with intellectual disabilities. The survey included 574 mothers living with their husbands who became our participants. Both anova and regression analyses indicated that, compared with mothers in the universal breadwinner group, mothers in the universal caregiver group had higher levels of maternal marital and family life satisfaction, but not of work satisfaction and quality of life. An incentive policy is critical for supporting the fathers involved in lifelong caregiving and to promote the mothers' quality of life.

Adaptation to the birth of a child with a congenital anomaly: A prospective longitudinal study of maternal well-being and psychological distress.

This study explores the stability and change in maternal life satisfaction and psychological distress following the birth of a child with a congenital anomaly using 5 assessments from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study collected from Pregnancy Week 17 to 36 months postpartum. Participating mothers were divided into those having infants with (a) Down syndrome (DS; n = 114), (b) cleft lip/palate (CLP; n = 179), and (c) no disability (ND; n = 99,122). Responses on the Satisfaction With Life Scale and a short version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist were analyzed using structural equation modeling, including latent growth curves. Satisfaction and distress levels were highly diverse in the sample, but fairly stable over time (retest correlations: .47-.68). However, the birth of a child with DS was associated with a rapid decrease in maternal life satisfaction and a corresponding increase in psychological distress observed between pregnancy and 6 months postpartum. The unique effects from DS on changes in satisfaction (Cohen's d = -.66) and distress (Cohen's d = .60) remained stable. Higher distress and lower life satisfaction at later assessments appeared to reflect a persistent burden that was already experienced 6 months after birth. CLP had a temporary impact (Cohen's d = .29) on maternal distress at 6 months. However, the overall trajectories did not differ between CLP and ND mothers. In sum, the birth of a child with DS influences maternal psychological distress and life satisfaction throughout the toddler period, whereas a curable condition like CLP has only a minor temporary effect on maternal psychological distress.

Concordance of Attachment Representations in Preschool Siblings Assessed by the Attachment Story Completion Task

Several studies have indicated only a modest concordance of attachment security in siblings in infancy. Until now, very little was known about the concordance of siblings’ attachment security beyond infancy, as assessed by the attachment story completion task. This cross-sectional study aims to examine the concordance of attachment representations of 38 first-born (4–7 years) and 38 second-born (3–5 years) siblings living in middle-class two-parent families. Personality factors and the level of parenting stress of the biological mothers (30–43 years) were analysed in relation to children’s attachment security. The results indicate a 43 % secure-insecure concordance rate between siblings’ attachment representations. Sibling’s gender correspondence, age differences and differences in parenting stress were not related to attachment concordance whereas gender of the first-born child was related to attachment concordance. The results also indicate that older children more frequently had secure attachment representations compared to younger children and that attachment insecurity was associated with greater negative impacts of life events, lower maternal life satisfaction and higher parenting stress. Our study indicates that siblings’ attachment representations may lack concordance even when siblings are assessed by the same method at the same time. If maternal and environmental factors are able to explain a substantial amount of variance in the attachment security of individual children, non-shared environmental factors might be underestimated when studying siblings’ attachment representations. The significant effect of age on children’s attachment representations found in this study suggests the need for future research on the stability of attachment representations during the preschool years.

Social Development of Preschool Children in Croatia: Contributions of Child Temperament, Maternal Life Satisfaction and Rearing Practices

We conducted the present study to examine the relationship of maternal characteristics (estimated happiness and life satisfaction, and child-rearing practices) and children’s temperament to conduct problems and prosocial behavior of preschool children in Croatia. Participants were mothers of 258 children (mean age 61.62 months), who gave their estimations on the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Parental Behaviour Questionnaire, the EAS Temperament Survey and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. After analyzing correlations between all the variables included in research, we conducted two hierarchical regression analyses with implementation of predictor variables in 4 stages (socio-demographic variables; mothers’ estimated happiness and life satisfaction; child temperament; mothers’ parenting). In the final step of regression significant predictors of preschoolers’ conduct problems were children’s age, temperamental emotionality and activity, and mothers’ punishment and inductive reasoning. When predicting children’s prosocial behavior, significant predictors were mothers’ inductive reasoning and warmth, and children’s age and temperamental shyness.

Mothers of infants with congenital heart defects: well-being from pregnancy through the child’s first six months

This study compared the well-being among mothers of children with congenital heart defects (CHD) with mothers of children without CHD (controls), at pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum. We linked prospective data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, with a nationwide medical CHD registry. In the MoBa cohort of 61,456 mothers, we identified 212 mothers of infants with mild (n=92), moderate (n=50), or severe CHD (n=70). Subjective well-being was operationalized by means of maternal life satisfaction, joy, and anger at the 30thweek of gestation and at 6months postpartum. Subjective well-being in mothers of children with CHD remained unchanged and similar to that of controls on satisfaction with life (P=0.120) and feelings of joy (P=0.065). However, at child age 6months, mothers of infants with severe CHD reported slightly elevated feelings of anger compared with controls (P=0.006). Joy and life satisfaction remained intact among mothers of children with CHD. Yet, elevated feelings of anger in mothers of children with the most severe CHD suggest that they may experience more frustration.

Building life satisfaction through attachment to mother and beliefs about the world: social axioms as mediators in two cultural groups

This study examines the role of three dimensions of social axioms (religiosity, social cynicism, and reward for application) as mediators of the relationship between insecure attachment styles to mother and the life satisfaction of Hong Kong Chinese and Americans. Participants were 143 university students from Hong Kong and 187 from the United States. As predicted, attachment-avoidant individuals had higher levels of social cynicism and lower levels of reward for application, while attachment-anxious individuals showed higher levels of social cynicism. Both social cynicism and reward for application mediated the link between insecure maternal attachment styles and life satisfaction, confirming the position that experiences with mothering shape beliefs about the world that in turn shape life outcomes. Anxious and avoidant maternal attachment styles correlated differently with religiosity, social cynicism, and reward for application in the two cultures, suggesting a distinctive role for beliefs about religious institutions and a Supreme Being for Americans.

Maternal Life Satisfaction and Child Outcomes: Are They Related?

This paper investigates the association between maternal life satisfaction and the developmental functioning of 2–3-year-old children as well as the socio-emotional behavior of 5–6-year-old children. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), which allows us to control for a rich set of child and parental characteristics and to use the mother’s life satisfaction before the birth of her child as an instrument to eliminate potential reverse causality. The results indicate that the more satisfied the mother, the better her child’s verbal skills and the lower his or her socio-emotional problems. The relation is more pronounced for boys than for girls. The results are robust even when mothers’ personality or mothers’ cognitive skills are controlled for.

Familienbezogene Lebensqualität bei Müttern von Jungen mit Fragilem-X-Syndrom im frühen Kindesalter

Quality of life has been conceptualized as a subjective view of one's feeling of well-being. There is evidence for restraints caused by parenting stress as well as resilience in mothers of children with an intellectual handicap. Specifically, we report on an investigation using the family-related life quality questionnaire (FLQ) in mothers of 26 young boys with Fragile X syndrome. Quality of life is affected by parenting stress as well as individual and social coping resources (hope as a personal trait and quality of family relationships). Child-related variables (age, adaptive competence) had no significant effect on perceived quality of life, child temperament and atypical behavior is related indirectly to maternal life satisfaction as a factor determining the degree of parenting stress.

Maternal Life Satisfaction and Child Outcomes: Are They Related?

This paper investigates the association between maternal life satisfaction and the developmental functioning of two- to three-year-old children as well as the socio-emotional behavior of five- to six-year-old children. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), which allows us to control for a rich set of child and parental characteristics and to use the mother’s life satisfaction before the birth of her child as an instrument to eliminate potential reverse causality. The results indicate that the more satisfied the mother, the better her child’s verbal skills and the lower his or her socio-emotional problems. The relation is more pronounced for boys than for girls. The results are robust even when mothers’ personality or mothers’ cognitive skills are controlled for.

Effects of fully established Sure Start Local Programmes on 3‐year‐old children and their families living in England: a quasi‐experimental observational study

. Melhuish E., Belsky J., Leyland A. H., Barnes J. &amp; ( 2008 ) , 372 , 1641 – 1647 . DOI: 10.1016/S0140‐6736(08)61687‐6 . Background Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) are area‐based interventions to improve services for young children and their families in deprived communities, promote health and development, and reduce inequalities. We therefore investigated whether SSLPs affect the well‐being of 3‐year‐old children and their families.Methods In a quasi‐experimental observational study, we compared 5883 3‐year‐old children and their families from 93 disadvantaged SSLP areas with 1879 3‐year‐old children and their families from 72 similarly deprived areas in England who took part in the Millennium Cohort Study. We studied 14 outcomes – children's immunizations, accidents, language development, positive and negative social behaviours and independence; parenting risk; home‐learning environment; father's involvement; maternal smoking, body‐mass index and life satisfaction; family's service use; and mother's rating of area.Findings After we controlled for background factors, we noted beneficial effects associated with the programmes for five of 14 outcomes. Children in the SSLP areas showed better social development than those in the non‐SSLP areas, with more positive social behaviour (mean difference 0.45, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.80, P = 0.01) and greater independence (0.32, 0.18 to 0.47, P &lt; 0.0001). Families in SSLP areas showed less negative parenting (−0.90, −1.11 to −0.69, P &lt; 0.0001) and provided a better home‐learning environment (1.30, 0.75 to 1.86, P &lt; 0.0001). These families used more services for supporting child and family development than those not living in SSLP areas (0.98, 0.86 to 1.09, P &lt; 0.0001). Effects of SSLPs seemed to apply to all subpopulations and SSLP areas.Interpretation Children and their families benefited from living in SSLP areas. The contrast between these and previous findings on the effect of SSLPs might indicate increased exposure to programmes that have become more effective. Early interventions can improve the life chances of young children living in deprived areas.

Effects of fully-established Sure Start Local Programmes on 3-year-old children and their families living in England: a quasi-experimental observational study

Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) are area-based interventions to improve services for young children and their families in deprived communities, promote health and development, and reduce inequalities. We therefore investigated whether SSLPs affect the wellbeing of 3-year-old children and their families. In a quasi-experimental observational study, we compared 5883 3-year-old children and their families from 93 disadvantaged SSLP areas with 1879 3-year-old children and their families from 72 similarly deprived areas in England who took part in the Millennium Cohort Study. We studied 14 outcomes-children's immunisations, accidents, language development, positive and negative social behaviours, and independence; parenting risk; home-learning environment; father's involvement; maternal smoking, body-mass index, and life satisfaction; family's service use; and mother's rating of area. After we controlled for background factors, we noted beneficial effects associated with the programmes for five of 14 outcomes. Children in the SSLP areas showed better social development than those in the non-SSLP areas, with more positive social behaviour (mean difference 0.45, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.80, p=0.01) and greater independence (0.32, 0.18 to 0.47, p<0.0001). Families in SSLP areas showed less negative parenting (-0.90, -1.11 to -0.69, p<0.0001) and provided a better home-learning environment (1.30, 0.75 to 1.86, p<0.0001). These families used more services for supporting child and family development than those not living in SSLP areas (0.98, 0.86 to 1.09, p<0.0001). Effects of SSLPs seemed to apply to all subpopulations and SSLP areas. Children and their families benefited from living in SSLP areas. The contrast between these and previous findings on the effect of SSLPs might indicate increased exposure to programmes that have become more effective. Early interventions can improve the life chances of young children living in deprived areas.

Relations among Maternal Parenting Style, Academic Competence, and Life Satisfaction in Chinese Early Adolescents

The relations among maternal concern and restrictiveness, self-evaluated academic competence, and life satisfaction were explored in a short-term longitudinal study of 346 7th-grade students (126 males and 220 females) in Hong Kong. The authors found that perceived maternal concern, academic competence, and life satisfaction significantly declined from the beginning to the end of the 7th grade. Mothers viewed themselves as higher in parental concern than adolescents viewed them. Structural equation modeling found that adolescents’ perceived maternal concerns and academic competences significantly predicted life satisfaction over time, whereas perceived maternal restrictiveness did not. The data support the importance of perceived maternal concern and academic competence in predicting early adolescent life satisfaction.