Abstract
At present, people’s life pressure is increasing. In order to help alleviate the pressure of professional mothers’ upbringing, in this study, the treatment program for working mothers or parental education program was analyzed. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 278 mothers of male and female infants aged 0–5 in three kindergartens in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. SPSS 23.0 software was used for frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. This study aims to improve the mood and self-esteem of working mothers with young children, and briefly introduce the policy of providing important support in addition to relatives. The results show that: first, the age of children is the cause of mother’s parenting pressure. The younger the children are, the greater the parenting pressure is; second, the higher the mother’s sense of parenting efficacy, the lower the parenting pressure; third, the higher the mother’s self-esteem, the lower the parenting pressure; fourth, the social support that working mothers receive may reduce their childcare pressure. Reducing the parental rearing pressure of working mothers with low self-esteem can help actively promote the positive development of their children. This article provides some reference for the relief of the pressure of professional mothers’ parenting.
1. Introduction
1.1. Necessity and Purpose of the Study
The post-80s generation refers to the generation born from 1980 to 1989 after China implemented the family planning policy (one child policy) in 1979. According to the sixth census of China in 2010, the post-80s generation accounted for about 16% of the total population in China [1]. After the 1980s, as the first batch of only children after the implementation of the family planning policy in China, we can clearly see the changing characteristics of the family model and the changes of the face of the times [2]. The family model of doting on children after the 1980s is a very common “4 + 2 + 1” model, that is, in a family, one child corresponds to the “less children and more children” model composed of parents and the elderly of two families. With the first batch of only children forming families, “4 + 2 + 1” model has become the mainstream of society.
Not only the change of family structure, but also the change of women’s roles, such as the improvement of women’s education level and the increase of women’s employment, will also affect the values of their children [3]. In the 1980s, under China’s family planning policy, the number of one-child families increased. Therefore, Chinese society has changed from attaching importance to children’s economic values or instrumental values to attaching importance to children’s emotional values [4]. Parental stress can be defined as daily perceived stress in parental roles. The actual situation in modern society is that parents have more and more responsibilities for raising children, have higher and higher requirements for the role of parents, and have greater and greater pressure on parents to raise children [5]. This kind of parental pressure is the core reason that affects the child’s character and has a great impact on the child’s growth and development [6]. Parental rearing pressure is a predictable pressure for parents to develop family system while fulfilling their parental roles [7].
Mother’s personality, infant characteristics, and environmental factors are all related to mother’s childcare behavior, and it is believed that mother’s childcare stress stems from the interaction of these factors [8]. The concept of parenting stress can be divided into stress caused by children’s characteristics, stress caused by mother’s personality, and stress caused by life and situation [9]. At the same time, it is pointed out that the stress caused by maternal traits is the most important factor affecting parental rearing stress. Parenting efficacy is an important factor in fulfilling the role of parents [10]. The so-called sense of parenting efficacy means that as parents, they feel that they can raise their children well. Even if they encounter problems related to their children, they are able to cope with them. This is a kind of confidence in their parents [11].
Mothers with a high sense of parenting efficacy have a good understanding of their children and can guide parent-child interaction more smoothly [12]. On the contrary, mothers with low childcare efficacy not only show irrational behavior, but also affect the positive development of their children [13]. There is a high reverse relationship between maternal self-esteem and parenting stress. Therefore, this study also believes that exploring the content of self-esteem together is one of the reasons for the change of maternal characteristics [14]. Self-esteem is one of the internal factors to alleviate negative parenting behavior. Self-esteem is not so much a self-concept as a self-evaluation. Self-esteem is defined as respecting oneself, feeling good about oneself, and seeing oneself as a valuable existence [15]. This is a concept related to how a person evaluates himself. Recently, it has been reported that self-esteem will affect people’s behavior and adaptation, which indicates that self-esteem will affect personal psychological function under stressful conditions, thus mediating parenting stress [16].
People with a high sense of self-esteem have a clear concept of themselves, can positively evaluate themselves, rarely waver in changes and uncertain situations, and have consistency [17]. Therefore, compared with mothers with low self-esteem, mothers with high self-esteem feel less pressure on childcare. Previous studies that have proved the relationship between children’s values and parenting stress have analyzed the impact of parents’ children’s values and fathers’ participation on mothers’ parenting stress according to family income [18]. The results show that in the middle-income group, when mothers’ emotional and instrumental values towards their children are low, parents’ pressure is greater [19]. The mothers in the low-income group had higher parental pressure and marital conflict than those in the other two groups, and their fathers’ participation and marital satisfaction were lower [20].
The characteristics of children can be used as one of the variable factors that affect the parenting stress of mothers. As for the child’s age, the degree of parental stress that parents feel varies with the child’s age. Their study found that children aged 30–36 months felt more stress than those aged 9–12 months [21]. This can be seen as a feature of strengthening children’s self-discipline during the transition from infancy to early childhood, leading to strong parental pressure [22]. The younger the child is, the greater the pressure the mother shows in the process of raising the child. It can be seen that the younger the child is, the more things the mother needs to do in daily life, which requires more attention and more time in the role of parents [23]. Therefore, the greater the parenting pressure.
Another variable that affects mother’s parenting stress is the context, that is, the importance of family and social support systems can be considered [24]. Many previous studies have shown that husband support is an important variable to reduce the parenting pressure of working mothers. On the contrary, some published studies have shown that the husband’s participation in childcare has no significant effect on the childcare pressure of working mothers [25]. Many studies on the parenting stress of working mothers show that social support is an important variable to reduce the parenting stress of working mothers. The lower the support of neighbors and relatives, the greater the pressure on working mothers to raise their children. In recent years, with people’s attention to partner support as the social support that has the greatest impact on reducing the pressure of infant mothers’ childcare, the research on the relationship between mothers’ childcare pressure and fathers’ participation in childcare has been stimulated since the 2000s. On the other hand, there are few studies on the relationship between the micro-systems of family members (mother’s family, mother-in-law’s family), friends, neighbors, and mother’s parenting stress, especially the research on the regulation of variable factors. Parenting pressure will have a direct impact on the physical and mental health of mothers who bear the main responsibility for childcare and their childcare work. And it will have an important impact on the quality of family life and the normal play of family functions, and then affect social stability. There is a negative correlation between parental stress and parental participation. The higher the level of parental stress, the lower the level of parental participation. Stress suppresses the desire to participate and leads to negative parental behavior. The assessment of community parenting environment found that the lower the grade, the greater the parenting pressure, indicating that the community parenting environment has an important impact on mothers’ parenting pressure.
To sum up, there are many factors that affect parental rearing stress, including personal or family and environmental factors. Therefore, this study aims to explore the related effects of parenting stress on working mothers in China.
Through this study, we can find out the influence of mother’s factors, children’s factors, and environmental factors on the parenting pressure of post-80s working mothers in China, and put forward some solutions to reduce the parenting pressure of working mothers.
2. Methods of Study
2.1. Subjects of Study
The post-80s generation is in a good material living environment and grew up with the vigorous development of commodity culture and the emergence of the Internet and e-commerce. Strong adaptability to modern high-tech life. The post-80s generation has been accustomed to film and television language and network language since childhood and has a rapid response to fashion advertising. Unlike the previous generation, they do not have too much traditional cultural memory and historical burden. The reason for the above phenomenon is that this generation has received meticulous care from their elders, their material life is relatively superior, and their society and culture are open.
From January 8, 2021 to November 12, 2021, the mothers of children aged 0–5 in 3 kindergartens and nursery schools in Liaocheng city were set as subjects in Shandong Province. The implementation method of the study is that after the researchers explained the significance and purpose of the study to the directors of each institution through WeChat, and all the directors agreed to participate in the study. The survey compiled an online questionnaire and asked the head teacher to transmit the link to the mothers. A total of 281 questionnaires were recovered, and 3 unanswered questionnaires were subtracted from the last recovered questionnaires, and 278 questionnaires were used for final analysis.
2.2. Instruments of Survey
2.2.1. A Sense of Parenting Effectiveness
Childcare self-efficacy is a subjective judgment of an individual’s ability to engage in certain childcare activities and childcare behaviors. It is an individual’s belief that he can succeed, that is, “I can do it.” It reflects the individual’s belief that they have the ability to respond to external environmental challenges. That is what we usually call self-confidence.
2.2.2. Value of Children
Children’s value refers to their economic contribution and their role in society and family. Parents raise and nurture children because children have social, economic, and psychological values.
2.2.3. A Sense of Self-Respect
In order to investigate the maternal self-respect, the “scale of sense of self-respect” was developed.
2.2.4. Husband’s Parenting Involvement
In order to investigate husband’s parenting involvement, a Chinese translation version of the scale was developed.
2.2.5. Social Support
Through the reconstruction of indirect perceived support scale, social support can examine the degree of support of each support source. The explanation of the scale is that the higher the score, the greater the positive effect. The social support questionnaire is divided into two questionnaires: relatives (mother’s family, mother-in-law, etc.,) and non-relatives (friends, teachers, etc.,).
2.2.6. Parenting Stress
In order to investigate mothers’ parenting stress, 20 scales were selected from the parenting stress scale and verified by Chinese preschool education experts.
2.3. Analytical Methods
The data collected in this study were analyzed by the following methods using the SPSS 23.0 statistical procedure.
Firstly, in order to understand the demographic characteristics of the respondents, technical statistical analysis was carried out; and in order to test the reliability of the survey instrument, the internal consistency coefficient Cronbach’s α of the problem was also calculated.
Secondly, in order to investigate the general tendency of maternal parenting stress, social demographic characteristics, children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics, and environmental characteristics, the mean value and standard deviation of the reasons for the changes were calculated.
Thirdly, in order to understand the differences of maternal parenting pressure caused by demographic factors, t-test and One-Way ANOVA were implemented.
Fourthly, in order to understand the relationship between maternal parenting stress and children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics and environmental characteristics, Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient was calculated.
Fifthly, in order to understand the relative influence of maternal social demographic characteristics, children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics, and environmental characteristics on parenting stress, stepwise multiple regression analysis was carried out.
3. Findings
3.1. Social Demographic Characteristics
3.1.1. Demographic Characteristics of Study Subjects
According to the characteristics of demographic sociology, there are 278 participants in this survey. The gender of children was 45.3% (126) for girls, and the proportion of boys was slightly higher, accounting for 54.7% (152). The highest proportion of each age group is 4∼5 years old, accounting for 60.4% (168), 2∼3 years old accounting for 25.9% (72) and 0∼1 year old accounting for 13.7% (38), respectively. 79.2% of mothers have the highest academic qualifications of undergraduate and graduate students, most of them were highly educated mothers.
From the perspective of mother’s occupation, the professional position accounts for the highest proportion, accounting for 40.6% (113), followed by the administrative position, accounting for 19.4% (54). From the age of mothers, 31∼32 years old is the most common, accounting for 31.3% (87). The monthly household income is 4000–6999 yuan, accounting for 36.7% (102), 7000–9999 yuan, 21.6% (60), 10000–12999 yuan, 15.5% (43), and 13,000 yuan or more, 14.0% (39), and 4,000 yuan or less, 12.2% (34). The income level is mainly distributed between 4,000 and 6,999 yuan.
3.1.2. General Trends in Investigating Variables
As a variable factor in this study, the research on the causes of parenting stress of the post-80s generation of working mothers in China is related to the mean value and standard deviation of maternal factors (parenting effectiveness, child value, self-respect), children’s factor (young children’s diseases), and environmental factors (husband’s parenting participation, social support, martial satisfaction) are shown in Table1.
As shown in Table 1, among the general tendencies of maternal parenting stress, the average score is 61.10 (SD = 13.44), which was higher than the median score of 60. That means, on average, the maternal parenting stress is higher than that of the middle level.
Among the general tendencies of maternal characteristics, first of all, in the general tendency of maternal sense of parenting effectiveness, maternal sense of parenting effectiveness is higher than that of the middle level. In the general tendency of maternal children’s value, maternal children’s value is higher than that of the middle level. Among the general tendencies of maternal self-respect, the sense of maternal self-respect higher than that of the middle level.
Among the general tendencies of environmental characteristics, firstly, the husband’s parenting involvement is higher than that in the middle. In the general tendencies of maternal social support (relatives), the emotional support, instrumental support, and informational support received by mothers from relatives are higher than those in the middle. Among the general tendencies of maternal social support (except relatives), the emotional support, instrumental support, and informational support from the places other than relatives are higher than those in the middle.
3.2. Parenting Stress Corresponding to Demographic Characteristics
In order to investigate whether there are differences in the average parenting stress of mothers corresponding to the demographic characteristics of the subjects, one-way ANOVA and t-test were conducted. The results of the investigation on the difference of the mean value of parenting stress corresponding to the demographic characteristics of the subjects are shown in Table 2.
Through single-factor dispersion analysis, the results of the investigation on the difference of parenting pressure of mothers corresponding to demographic variables are as follows. The results of single-factor dispersion analysis of mother’s parenting pressure according to the gender of children, mother’s educational background, mother’s occupation, family monthly income, and mother’s age show that statistically speaking, there is no significant difference in their parenting pressure on mothers.
There are significant differences between the age of children and the maternal parenting stress. (F = 5.240, ). Mothers of children aged 0∼1 year are more stressful than mothers of children aged 2∼3 and 4∼5 years.
3.3. Analysis of Correlation
In order to understand the relationship between maternal factor, children’s factor, environmental factor, and parenting stress, Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient was calculated, and the results are shown in Table 3.
Pearson’s correlation analysis shows that there is a significant negative (−) correlation among the research variables. Specifically, taking the parenting stress as a subordinate variable as a criterion, in the correlation with the lower-level factors of independent variable, the sense of ability (r = −0.217, ), emotional feeling (r = −0.528, ), emotional value in maternal child value (r = −0.132, ), maternal self-esteem (r = −0.388, ), and instrumental support in social support (other than relatives) (r = −0.124, ) are in the order of negative (−) relationship with maternal parenting pressure.
3.4. The Explanatory Power Social Demographic Characteristics, Children’s Characteristics, Maternal Characteristics, and Environmental Characteristics on Maternal Parenting Stress
(1)In order to understand the variable factors that are meaningful to maternal daily parenting stress and their relative influence, stepwise regression analysis was carried out. For parents, there are different pressures at each stage. There is a close relationship between parental pressure and children’s physical and mental development. Parenting pressure is also an important factor affecting their parenting behavior. Changes in the environment have a great impact on parents and children. When the external environmental pressure is greater, the cost pressure of childcare is higher. A sense of stress is generated when the child care needs cannot be met, including emotional experiences and states such as anxiety, loss of social status, physical fatigue, etc., Pattern 1 shows that the explanatory power is 17.4%, and the emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0.418, ) has a negative (−) influence on the maternal daily parenting stress; statistically speaking, there are significant differences (). That is, it can be predicted that emotional sensation will increase and the maternal daily parenting stress will decrease. Pattern 2 shows that the explanatory power is 18.7%, the emotional feeling of extra input in parenting (β = −0.405, ), and the age of children (β = −0.114, ) all have negative (−) effects on maternal daily parenting stress, and statistically, there are significant differences (). That is, it can be predicted that with the increase in the age of the children the maternal daily parenting stress will decrease. Details of explanatory power of social demographic characteristics, children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics, and environmental characteristics are provided in Table 4.(2)In order to know what the meaningful variables are and the relative influence of the variables, stepwise regression analysis was carried out. Pattern 1 shows that the explanatory power is 32.9%, and the emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0 574, ) has a negative (−) effect on the burden and anxiety of the mother’s parental role. Statistically, there is also a significant difference (). That is, it can be predicted that when the emotional sense will be enhanced, and the burden and worry about the mother’s parental role will be reduced. Pattern 2 shows that the explanatory power is 35.1%, the emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0.473, ) and the sense of self-respect (β = −0.473, ) have negative (−) influence on the burden and anxiety of mother’s parental role. Statistically, there is a significant difference (). In other words, it can be predicted that if self-respect will increase and the burden and anxiety about the maternal parental role will be decreased. Pattern 3 shows that the explanatory power is 36.3%, the emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0.470, ), and the sense of self-respect (β = −0.161, ) and instrumental support (other than relatives) (β = −0.111, ) have negative (−) influence on the burden and anxiety of mother’s parental role. Statistically, there is a significant difference (). That is, it can be predicted that instrumental support (other than relatives) increases, and burdens and anxiety about the maternal parental role will be decreased. Details of explanatory power of social demographic characteristics, children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics, and environmental characteristics are provided in Table 5.(3)In order to know what are the meaningful variable factors that bring guilt to others’ parenting, and the relative influence of the variable factors, the stepwise regression analysis was carried out. Pattern 1 shows that the explanatory power is 18.5%, and the emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0.430,) has negative (−) influence on the sense of guilt brought about by others’ parenting. Statistically, there is a significant difference (). That is, it can be predicted that when emotion increases, the sense of guilt associated with others’ parenting will be decreased. Pattern 2 shows that the explanatory power of the model is 20%, and the extra input of emotional sense of parenting effectiveness (β = −0.347, ) and self-respect (β = −0.147, ) have negative (−) effects on the sense of guilt caused by others’ parenting. Statistically, there is a significant difference (). That is, it can be predicted that as self-respect increases, the guilt associated with others’ parenting will be reduced. Details of explanatory power of sense of guilt for others’ parenting of social demographic characteristics, children’s characteristics, maternal characteristics, and environmental characteristics are provided in Table 6.4. Discussion and Conclusion
This study investigates the parenting stress of Chinese post-80 working mothers with infancy children, and the relationship between maternal factors (parenting effectiveness, child value, self-respect), children’s factors (gender, age), and environmental factors (husband’s parenting involvement, social support, and marital satisfaction). At the same time, the relative explanatory power of these variables on maternal parenting stress was also investigated. The comprehensive research results are discussed as follows:
First, the age of the children affects the maternal parenting stress. The results showed that mothers raising 2–3 years old children and mothers raising 4–5 years old children had higher parental stress levels than mothers raising 0–1 year old children. This is the same as the previous study (Jin Meishu, 2005), which found that the lower the child’s age is, the higher the parenting stress will be. This can be explained by the fact that the younger the children are, the more they need for parenting, the more places in which they need to help the child, and therefore the greater the parenting stress will be felt by the mother.
Second, maternal sense of parenting effectiveness affects maternal parenting stress. The results are related to the first research (An Luolii, Jin Zhengya, 2005) that the higher the mother’s sense of parenting effectiveness, the lower the parenting pressure, the research that raising the mother’s sense of parenting effectiveness can improve the parenting skills, and the research that the mother’s sense of parenting effectiveness has a negative impact on the parenting pressure, and the research that when the mother’s sense of parenting effectiveness is higher, the lower the parenting pressure she feels, and she shows loving parenting behavior to her children is the result of the same effect.
Third, the higher the maternal sense of self-respect, the less the stress of parenting. It can be said that this study has a negative relationship with self-respect and parenting stress of mothers who raise adolescent children, or the research results of Piao Neiqian (2007) and Yang Guihua (2001), which reveal a negative relationship between self-respect and parenting stress, all of which are results of differences in children’s age and characteristics of the subjects.
Fourth, social support for working mothers is a variable factor in reducing maternal parenting stress. This is related to the research that social support can relieve the stress of parenting, and the research that the lower the support of neighbors and relatives, the higher the stress of child parenting felt by working mothers. That is to say, the higher the social support for the mother is, the lower the maternal parenting stress will be.
The implications of this study are as follows: I think that through this research, we can analyze which variable factors are related to the parenting pressure of the post-80s generation of working mothers and provide a lot of help in formulating intervention strategies to help the post-80s generation of working mothers to adapt to and cope with the parents’ upbringing of their children and the development of human communication style. A bridge should be built between children and their families to promote parents’ sense of identity and cooperation. Better realize the synchronous and coordinated development of kindergarten education and family education. Give full play to the role of the environment so that children’s works can be displayed to adults. The children’s performance in the activities makes parents feel their children’s progress. Enhance the understanding of children so as to gradually establish a harmonious and interactive home cooperation relationship. At the same time, it is expected to contribute to the development of substantive and preventive parental education programs and parent counseling in terms of reducing the content of previous parent education programs that focused on the transmission of educational information and knowledge, and reducing the parenting pressure of mothers.
The limitations and viewpoints of this study are as follows: the data of 278 subjects in Liaocheng district, Shandong Province, China are slightly insufficient in explaining the parenting stress of mothers. The combination area of this study is too narrow to be analyzed according to the living environment cost in different regions. Therefore, the research results are not very representative, so their representativeness is limited. In the subsequent research, it is necessary to select a sufficient number of mothers with multiple backgrounds for research.
Data Availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts ofinterest or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.