취업모의 양육스트레스와 심리적 안녕감과의 관계에서 사회적 지지의 매개효과

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between mothers' parenting stress and psychological well-being among working mothers of children aged 3 to 5. To achieve this, a survey was conducted with 428 working mothers in South Korea. Collected data were analyzed using Baron & Kenny(1986)’ three step regression analysis and Hayes(2013)’ PROCESS Macro(ver. 4.2) model 4. The results of this study were as follows. First, significant correlations were found among working mothers' parenting stress, social support, and psychological well-being. Second, social support demonstrated a significant mediating effect between parenting stress and psychological well-being. Among the subtypes of social support, emotional support emerged as the most significant mediator, highlighting the importance of empathy and emotional connection. On the other hand, informational support did not show a statistically significant mediating effect. Third, the analysis of the mediating effect of social support revealed that the indirect effect of social support was stronger than the direct effect of parenting stress. This means that the perception of lacking support had a more negative impact on psychological well-being than the stress itself. The results of this study revealed that perceived social support plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between working mothers’ parenting stress and psychological well-being, particularly highlighting the importance of emotional support among the subtypes of social support. This study suggests that to enhance the psychological well-being of working mothers, the focus should be on strengthening social support, particularly in the areas of emotional, appraisal, and material support. Therefore, this study can serve as a foundation for proposing parenting education and policy support strategies based on an understanding of how social support impacts psychological well-being in working mothers. Key Terms: parenting stress, psychological well-being, social support