Recently, the number of young children showing problem behavior has increased rapidly. Although children’s problematic behaviors are naturally solved through developing control ability, the absence of proper intervention may lead to emotional, psych...
Recently, the number of young children showing problem behavior has increased rapidly. Although children’s problematic behaviors are naturally solved through developing control ability, the absence of proper intervention may lead to emotional, psychological, and behavioral problems. Social attention is needed because these difficulties can continue until adolescence and adulthood. The parenting behavior of parents is the most important variable to be considered among the variables that reduce the problematic behaviors of young children, and the parent’s value of children is reported to be a guideline of parenting behavior which affects the development of the child. Therefore, the value of children precedes parenting behavior, and is a variable to consider in predicting the problem behavior of children along with parenting behavior.
This study provides a longitudinal analysis on the structural relationship in which the change trajectory in the value of children of mothers with infants and the value of children of mothers with infants affect parenting behavior of mothers with young children and the problem behavior of young children. It also investigates whether the mother’s parenting behavior has a mediating effect on the relationship between the mother’s value of children and the problem behavior of young children. In addition, the purpose of this study is to identify the role of the mother in reducing the problem behavior of young children and to provide basic data to educate parenting behavior and the value of children.
For these purposes, this study used the data from the 1st (2008) - 3rd (2010) and 6th (2013) longitudinal survey performed by the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). The subjects of this study were 1,601 children and mothers who responded about the value of children for more than 2 years, the parenting behavior of parents with young children, and the problem behavior of young children, among the sample of 1,662 people maintained as of the 6th year.
This study performed a descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, and Pearson’s correlation analysis using the SPSS 24.0 program, and performed a structural equation model analysis using AMOS 18.0. This study divided and conducted the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural model analysis in order to analyze the structural equation model, and estimated parameters using the maximum likelihood method. The χ2 test and AIC, TLI, NFI, CFI, and RMSEA fitness indices were used to evaluate the goodness of fit of the study model. The latent growth model was used to analyze the change trajectory in the value of children of mothers with infants. This study confirmed the mediating effect of the mother’s parenting behavior by bootstrapping in the structural relationship in which the value of children affects the parenting behavior of mothers with young children and problem behavior of young children as well as the structural relationship between the value of children during infancy and problem behavior of young children.
The major results of the study are summarized as follows.
First, as a result of checking the change trajectory in the value of children of mothers with infants over time, there is a statistically significant difference between the mean of the initial values and the rate of change in both the emotional value and instrumental value and it decreases over time. In addition, both the emotional and instrumental values of children have a significant initial value variance and rate of change variance, and show an individual difference, with a negative covariance which decreases gradually in mothers with a higher initial value of children.
Second, as a result of analyzing the structural relationship in which the change trajectory of the emotional value of mothers with infants affects the parenting behavior of mothers with young children and the problem behavior of young children, higher initial emotional values result in warmer and more controlling parenting behavior, and larger rates of change in emotional value lead to parenting behavior of lower level of warmth and control. In addition, as a result of verifying the mediating effect of parenting behavior, the mother’s emotional value of children partially mediates the mother’s parenting behavior and affects the problem behavior of young children.
Third, as a result of analyzing the structural relationship in which the change trajectory of the instrumental value of mothers with infants affects the parenting behavior of mothers with young children and the problem behavior of young children, higher initial instrumental values result in warmer and more controlling parenting behavior, and reduce the problem behavior of young children. However, the rate of change in the instrumental value of mothers with infants does not affect the parenting behavior of mothers with young children and the problem behavior of young children. In addition, as a result of verifying the mediating effect of parenting behavior, the initial value of the mother’s instrumental value of children partially mediates the mother’s parenting behavior and affects the problem behavior of young children, but the rate of change was not statistically significant.
This study confirmed that the value of children of mothers with infants changes over time. In addition, it also confirmed that the mother’s value of children is an important mechanism that influences the problem behavior of young children by mediating the parenting behavior, through the structural relationship in which the value of children of mothers with infants affects the parenting behavior of mothers with young children and the problem behavior of young children. In terms of child counseling and parent education, this implies that the detailed intervention of the mother’s value of children on her parenting behavior and the problem behavior of young children may be more effective than anything else.