• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2009

The relations of mothers' attitudes regarding maternal employment to mothers' psychological well-being, mothers' parenting sensitivity and children's social competence were examined for mothers who worked full-time (extensively) from age 6 months of their children on, mothers who were not employed, and mothers who worked part-time or inconsistently during their children's early years. Longitudinal observations of 1,034 mothers and children in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care from age one month to first grade were analyzed using structural equation models. As predicted, mothers and children benefited when maternal attitudes were consistent with mother's actual employment status. Among extensively employed mothers, those with positive attitudes about employment had better psychological well-being; among mothers who were not employed, those who believed that maternal employment would have negative consequences for children's development reported better psychological well-being. The findings suggested that whether the mother's status of employment is congruent with their beliefs, not whether the mother is working or not, predicted the mother's well-being and their child's social development.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.135-154
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• 2014

This study examined the causal relationships between parenting stress and self-efficacy of Korean mothers with an infant according to employment status using the second through fourth wave data of the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was performed to test the longitudinal reciprocal relationships between the two constructs. Our results indicated that both maternal parenting stress and self-efficacy were consistent over time. The results also indicated that there was a significant cross-lagged effect of maternal parenting stress on their self-efficacy, rather than vice versa. No differences between working and non-working mothers were found in the relationship between the two constructs.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2002

While the survival rate of preterm infants and employment rates of mothers with infants have been dramatically increasing, little is known about the impact of maternal employment and having premature infants on maternal health recovery after delivery. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine differences in postpartum health by mother's employment and infant's prematurity over time during the first 3 months postpartum. The study used a longitudinal design and was secondary data analysis from a large study. A convenience sample of 132 mothers was recruited with mothers who had fullterm or preterm infants through the postpartum unit. They were followed up for 3 times (at 1-2 days, 6 weeks, and 3 months) during the first 3 months postpartum period. Level of fatigue and hysical symptoms were indicators for postpartum physical health; Positive affect and negative affect were assessed for postpartum mental health, and role functional status after childbirth was for role performance. Finding indicated that health indicators changed significantly over time but there was no main or interaction effect for maternal employment status. There were main effects of infant's prematurity on positive affect, negative affect, and role functional status (self-care and social and community activities). This study enhanced the understanding of postpartum health of mothers with preterm infants as well as those with fullterm infants during the postpartum period.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.15-25
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• 2012

This study examined the parenting beliefs and the achievement pressure of Korean mothers with five to seven year old children. The maternal parenting beliefs criterion (Ahn, 2001) and achievement pressure criterion (Hong, 2001) have been applied to 212 mothers living in Seoul or Kyonggi-Do area and analyzed. The results showed that the maternal parenting beliefs were influenced by the child's gender, while the maternal achievement pressure was not. And significant difference was seen only in between the educational background and the maternal parenting beliefs, and the employment status and interaction effects were not shown.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.43-56
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• 2010

This study explored time-use patterns of young children and compared the patterns according to mother's employment status. Using 6718 time diaries of 3359 children under age 5, as reported by their mothers, this study examined (1) the proportion of children who spent time on certain activities and the amount of time they spent on each activity for a weekday and a weekend day and (2) the proportion and the amount of time that children spent with certain adults. Compared to children with unemployed mothers, children with employed mothers spent more time during weekdays in child care centers and less time sleeping. These children also spent more time on education during weekends. The proportionate and actual times children spent with various adults also differed by the mother's employment status. Those with employed mothers spent less time with their mothers and more time with other relatives or teachers on weekdays. These results indicate that maternal employment corresponds with differing timeuse patterns from children's early life stages.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.5-35
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• 1998

This study attempted to determine the relation between the maternal role strain and their husbands' support in employed and nonemployed first-time mothers, and how it changed over time. A descriptive, longitudinal and comparative study design was conducted to collect and analyzed the data at three times(at 3-4days, at 4-6wks and at 3-month postpartum) regarding the change of maternal role strain and their husbands' support in employed and nonemployed first-time mothers. The subjects were 133 first-time mothers who delivered vaginally at K university hospital in Deagu, Korea from Dec., 1994 to Oct., 1995. Among these 58 were employed and 75 were nonemployed first-time mothers. This instruments used to data collection in this study were by Hobbs(1968 : The Difficulty Index for First-time Parents), Staffensmeier(1982: Transition Difficulty Measure), Tayer(1976: Emotional Support from Husband), Lee, Hae Kyoung(1992 : Physical Support from Husband). The analysis of data was done with SAS/PC program which included percentage, $x^2$-test, Pearson correlation, Repeated Measure ANOVA, Time Contrast Analysis and t-test. The results were as follows : 1. There was a significant negative correlation only at 3-4days(r=-.19, P=.0265) and at 4-6wks postpartum(r=-.18, P=.0392) between maternal role strain and husband's support of the first-time mothers. Thus, the more support from husband, the less maternal role strains the first-time mothers felt. Therefore, the 1st hypothesis that "the more husband's support the first-time mother felt at all the time of testing, the less maternal role strains they got" was partially supported at 3-days and 4-6 weeks postpartum. There was no correlation between maternal role strain and t husband's support of the employed first-time mothers at al testing times(at 3-4days postpartum : r=-.95, P=.9548, at 4-6wks postpartum : r=-.0960, P=.4733 and at 3-month postpartum : r=-.05, P=7306). On the contrary, the unemployed first-time mothers felt less maternal role strain when they received more support from their husband at 3-4 days postpartum(r=-.31, P=.0073) and at 4-6wks postpartum(r=-.23, P=.0490). 2. There was no difference of maternal role strain between two groups with regards to employment status(F=.97, P=.3270). But the maternal role strains of two groups were changed differently each other over time(F=3.89, P=.00234). Therefore, the 2nd hypothesis that "there was the difference in the maternal role strains with regard to employment status and over time" was rejected. 3. There was no difference in husband's support between the employed and the nonemployed first-time mothers(F=3.06, P=.0826). But there was a significant interaction between employment status and over time(F=3.64, P=.0267), so the support from husband of the employed and the unemployed first-time mothers was changed differently each other over time. The support from husband of the employed first-time mothers was lowered significantly and continuously at 4-6wks (F=5.20, P=.0263) and at 3-month postpartum(F=6.47, P=.0137) than at 3-4 days postpartum. On the contrary, there was no difference in change of husband's support of the employed first-time mothers between the 3-4 days and the 4-6wks postpartum(F=1.70, P=.1962) and between the 3-4 days and the 3-month postpartum(F=.21, P=.6513). Mean husband's support of the nonemployed first-time mothers was raised at 4-6wks postpartum than at 3-4 days postpartum but lowed at 3-month postpartum. The support form husband of both groups was tending downwards at 3-month postpartum than at 4-6wks postpartum, but the one between two groups was changed differently each other over time. The husband's support of the employed first-time mothers(M${\pm}$SD=64. 26${\pm}$8.63) was higher than the one of the nonemployed first-time mothers(M${\pm}$SD=59.16${\pm}$11.11) (t=-2.98, P=.0035), so the 3rd hypothesis that "there was the difference in the husband's support with regard to employment status and over time" was supported. On the basis of these conclusions, the following suggestion is proposed. This study examined the change and relationship between maternal role strain and husband's support in the employed and the nonemployed first-time mothers. So the further study regarding the comparison between the employed and the nonemployed multiparas is necessary.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.23 no.2 s.74
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• pp.127-136
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• 2005

This study had a three fold-research purpose. The first research purpose was to understand parenting issues the families with one child are facing. The second purpose was to examine any differences in variables of interest in this study between the two subgroups of this study sorted by maternal employment status. Finally, this study examined which variables of interest in this study predict maternal self-efficacy. The variables of interest in this study included: 1) family demographic variables, 2) maternal self-efficacy, 3) parenting stress, 4) maternal satisfactions with contextual factors, and 5) maternal perceptions of effectiveness of birth-rate promotion policies. The sample consisted of 276 mothers selected from the one child families and the mothers sampled were asked to fill out the self-administered surveys which had been developed for the purpose of this study. The main results of this study were as follows. Overall, the mothers of this study did not have high levels of maternal self-efficacy, when SES of this sample was taken into consideration. Non-working mothers had higher levels of maternal self-efficacy than working mothers. No significant differences were found in parenting stress levels between the two subgroups. There were significant group differences in maternal perceptions of the effectiveness of birth- rate promotion policies. Furthermore, a wide range of variables was found to be a significant predictor of maternal self-efficacy. Implications were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.58-71
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• 1990

The purpose of the study was to investigate the mother-child interactions in terms of maternal child- rearing behavior, maternal self-esteem, and their school-age children's self-esteem. The subjects were, all living in the Seoul area. A pre-test was conducted twice on 98 subjects. Each time the values of Chronbach's ${\alpha}$ were obtained on maternal behavior, maternal self-esteem and children's self-esteem. Data analysis was by ANOVA, Pearson's product-moment correlation. multiple regression analysis. Chronbach's ${\alpha}$, and factor analysis. Children's self-esteem was positively related (1) to family background factors:educational level, employment status of mothers, social economic status, and number of siblings (2) to maternal self-esteem and (3) to maternal child-rearing behavior in the dimensions of affection, acceptance, and encouragement of independency. Children's self-esteem was negatively related to maternal child-rearing behavior in the dimensions of hostility, rejection and encouragement of dependency. The relative importance of independent variables on children's self-esteem was found to be in the following order:mother's educational level. social economic status, and number of siblings (${\beta}=0.5935$, p< .001), maternal child-rearing behavior in the affection-hostility dimension (${\beta}=0.0849$, p< .001), and in the acceptance-rejection dimension(${\beta}=0.0365$, p< .05). The regression model showed that 25 percent of the children's self-esteem could be accounted for by family background factors. and maternal child-rearing behavior in the affection-hostility dimension and the acceptance-rejection dimension ($R^2=0.25$).

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to identify role types as they pertain to paternal and maternal grandmothers based on four role dimensions. To this end, a sample of 416 mothers of preschoolers was used. This study also examined correlates of and differences in the type of grandparents in terms of paternal and maternal types of grandmothers. Data were analyzed by K-means clustering, Chi-square, and multi-nominal logistic regression analysis. Grandmothers were classified into five distinct groups : influential, supportive, authority-oriented, passive, and detached types. Maternal grandmothers seemed to be relatively more involved with their grandchildren than paternal ones. The type of grandmothers varied as a function of socioeconomic status, the number of grandchildren, and geographical proximity for paternal grandmothers, and mothers' employment status and the closeness between grandmothers and mothers for maternal grandmothers. The results imply that grandmothers are currently becoming more active in their grandchildren's lives and that kinship in Korean society tends to lean to the maternal side.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.115-130
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• 2022

This study aimed to understand what factors the mothers of infants consider to be important when choosing screen media programs for their children, and to investigate whether those features differ according to maternal socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education level, employment status, and family income). The study participants comprised 948 mothers who were the primary caregivers and had at least one child aged 4-6. They were asked to select three of the following aspects as critical criteria for determining if a given screen media program is appropriate for infants: (a) contents suitable to the child's developmental level, (b) behaviors of characters, (c) appearance of characters, (d) visual aspects of program, (e) duration of screen media program, (f) whether the screen media program includes instructive contents, and (g) whether the program leads to opportunities for conversations among family members and activities with children. Multiple response frequency analysis and multiple response cross-analysis were used to analyze the mothers' responses. The results revealed that the majority of the mothers reported that 'contents suitable to the child's developmental level' represented the first-ranked criterion for selecting screen media programs for their child, which was followed by 'behaviors of characters,' and 'whether the screen media program includes instructive contents.' However, such criteria for screen media programs for infants differed according to maternal age, education level, employment status, and family income. These outcomes suggest that different information needs to be provided based on maternal characteristics in order to help mothers determine the quality of screen media programs for their infants.