Raising Children in the Context of Rapid Social Change: Parenting Self-Efficacy of South Korean Mothers

Given recent sociocultural and economic changes that have created significant pressures on South Korean mothers, we were interested in understanding the factors that might contribute to their sense of competence in taking on the challenges of childrearing. We examined several family conditions theoretically supportive of mothers’ parenting self-efficacy (PSE), specifically whether mothers’ PSE was associated with their marital satisfaction and with their children’s competence (social and academic). We then examined whether PSE was related to life stress, as well as whether life stress moderated the relationship of PSE to the proximal marital and child variables. Participants included 234 South Korean mothers of pre-primary-aged children. Mothers completed a survey reporting on PSE, life stress, and marital satisfaction. Teachers provided ratings of children’s competence. Regression analyses indicated that mothers who experienced lower life stress reported higher PSE after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Neither marital satisfaction nor child competence was associated with PSE. A second set of regressions tested the same set of predictors, in addition to the interactions of life stress with marital satisfaction and of life stress with child competence. Results indicated that for mothers reporting lower life stress, greater marital satisfaction was associated with higher PSE. Unexpectedly, for mothers experiencing higher life stress, lower marital satisfaction was associated with higher PSE. These findings support theoretical formulations linking PSE with marital support and life stress, while suggesting a need to further investigate the association among these factors in a variety of situational contexts, particularly those that are appraised as stressful.