Maternal Employment and Family Socioeconomic Status: Unique Relations to Maternal Stress, Parenting Beliefs, and Preschoolers' Adjustment in Taiwanese Families

A Meta-analysis of the Relations Between Socioeconomic Status and Parenting Practices

The question of why parents parent the way they do is central in parenting studies. Research about the predictors of parenting has been guided by Belsky's classical model of parenting determinants. In this model, socioeconomic status was not explicitly considered as a determinant of parenting. However, there is ample research that came later that found relations between socioeconomic status and parenting. The aim of this study was to find an aggregate estimate of the relations between socioeconomic status and parenting practices using meta-analytic methods. We found that socioeconomic status was positively linked to positive parenting, and negatively linked to negative parenting. In particular, socioeconomic status was positively linked to parental warmth and parental behavioral control, but negatively linked to parental psychological control. The relations between socioeconomic status and positive or negative parenting were not moderated by child's age or sex and did not differ based on the type of socioeconomic status indicator. Moreover, all the correlations were small in magnitude, and were comparable to other predictors of parenting such as parent's depression, parent's personality traits, and child's temperament. Our results suggest that parent's overall socioeconomic status, or its different constituents, supplement Belsky's model of parenting determinants.

Relationships of Maternal Employment and Work Impact with Weight-Related Behaviors and Home Environments of Mothers and Their School-Age Children

The prevalence of obesity continues to rise. Preventing obesity, especially childhood obesity, is critically important. Parents, especially mothers, play a vital role in preventing childhood obesity. Numerous factors, such as maternal employment, may influence maternal weight-related practices and home environment characteristics that affect the risk of childhood obesity. Given the prevalence of both childhood obesity and maternal employment, this study was conducted to examine how weight-related maternal, child, and household behaviors as well as home environment characteristics differ by maternal employment hours and extends existing research by examining work impact on behaviors and home characteristics. U.S. mothers (n = 527) with at least one school-age child (6 to 11 years), who were between the ages of 25 and 54 years and the main food gatekeeper in the household completed an online survey. ANOVA comparisons of non-working, part-time employed, and full-time employed mothers revealed few differences in any of the variables studied. Cluster analysis of the 336 employed mothers based on six work impact scale scores found three unique clusters characterized as Enthusiastic Earners, Indifferent Earners, and Strained Earners. Few differences in sociodemographic and job characteristics occurred among clusters and the differences noted had small effect sizes. Clusters did not differ by maternal BMI or perceived child weight status. However, the clusters differed in numerous weight-related behaviors and home environment characteristics. Future research should aim to determine the direction of the associations of work impact with weight-related behaviors and home environments as well as identify potential strategies for overcoming the negative effects of employment on weight-related behaviors and environments and weight status as well as clarify other factors that may affect maternal work impact, such as time management, reasons for employment, and stress.

Father Involvement and Maternal Stress: The Mediating Role of Coparenting

In recent years mothers have been finding themselves overwhelmed by the need to balance work and maternal duties. Father involvement in childcare has been related to a decrease in mother's burden in childcare. This association is influenced by multiple aspects, such as the way parents share parenting perspectives and views about child rearing, i.e., coparenting. Nevertheless, the mediating role of coparenting on the association between father involvement and maternal stress has been overlooked. This will be addressed by the current study. A total of 254 Portuguese married/cohabiting mothers of preschool children reported on maternal stress, father involvement in caregiving, and coparenting. Data was collected in public and private schools through questionnaires and online through advertisements in social media. Results show that greater father involvement in direct care was associated with greater maternal stress, but this direction changes when mediated by cooperative coparenting. Moreover, results suggest that when mothers perceived less conflict in coparenting, greater father (in)direct care contributed to decreased maternal stress. The current study supports the notion that fathers involvement and parent's cooperation account to mothers' wellbeing, which will improve family dynamics.

Type of Family Support for Infant and Toddler Care That Relieves Parenting Stress: Does the Number of Children Matter?

The present study aimed to investigate the status and relationships between family support for infant and toddler care and parenting stress, and to explore differences related to the number of children in the families. We conducted a survey among 13,390 Chinese parents who were randomly sampled from six provinces of China. Descriptive analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and regression analysis indicated that (1) current family support for infant and toddler care in China is insufficient; (2) most Chinese parents reported moderate parenting stress, with the highest scores given for parental distress, followed by difficult child, and parent-child dysfunctional interaction; (3) the larger the number of children in the family, the less the family support for infant and toddler care, the greater the parenting stress; (4) there was a difference between the effects of family support for infant and toddler care on relieving parenting stress among families with different numbers of children. These findings indicate that different types of family support for infant and toddler care should be provided for families with different numbers of children, to ease parenting stress and promote the implementation of the government's current fertility policy.

Socioeconomic Disparities in Hospital Utilization Among Female Workers in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

The study aims to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic and hospital utilization among female workers in Indonesia.

METHODS

The study analyzed secondary data from the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Survey. The study gathered 161 186 female workers through stratification and multistage random sampling. As control factors, the study looked at age, marital status, education, occupation, and health insurance, in addition to the categories of socioeconomic and hospital utilization. The study used binary logistic regression to evaluate the data in the final step.

RESULTS

The result shows female workers with poorer wealth status are 1.142 times more likely than the most impoverished female workers to utilize the hospital (AOR 1.142; 95% CI 1.135-1.148). Female workers with median wealth status are 1.509 times more likely than the poorest female workers to take advantage of the hospital (AOR 1.509; 95% CI 1.501-1.517). Female workers with wealthier wealth status are 1.808 times more likely than the poorest female workers to use the hospital (AOR 1.808; 95% CI 1.799-1.817). The wealthiest female workers are 2.399 times more likely than the poorest female workers to utilize the hospital (2.399; 95% CI 2.387-2.411).

CONCLUSION

The study concluded a relationship between socioeconomic status and hospital utilization among female workers in Indonesia. The better the socioeconomic, the better the hospital utilization.

A phenomenological study of nurses' experiences with maternal guilt in Turkey

AIM

This study aims to describe nurses' views on what it is like to be a working mother in Turkey.

BACKGROUND

Most mothers are in the workforce but continue to fulfil their traditional roles at home. This emerges as an important factor causing mothers to try to find a balance between work and home.

METHOD

For this purpose, a semi-structured form was used in face-to-face interviews conducted with 17 participants. A phenomenological design was preferred in this qualitative study.

RESULTS

The findings obtained from the study revealed the six themes of 'the sense of inadequacy/helplessness, the sense of responsibility, the strong desire to have a positive effect, gender role stereotypes, the choice between achieving a successful career and being a good mother, but with a sense of depletion'.

CONCLUSION

The results obtained from the study of nurses in Turkey have shed light on how policies should be developed to eliminate work-life barriers in realizing the roles of motherhood.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

The study results will guide nurse managers in taking the steps needed to incorporate arrangements that will result in balanced conduct of work and home for nurses.

A belief-based parenting behavior model for promoting family's ability to care for children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in Indonesia

Background: Family's ability to care for children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a central indicator in preventing the children from worse nutritional disorders. Environmental factor, child factor, caregiving behavioral systems, and beliefs can improve the family's ability to care for children. The aim of this research was to analyze the effect of environmental factor, child factor, caregiving behavioral systems, and beliefs on the family's ability to care for children with ARFID. Design and Methods: This cross-sectional research was carried out on 245 families with children suffering from ARFID in Malang Regency, in the working area of the Health Office of Malang Regency. The population of this research was families with children suffering from ARFID within the working area of the Health Office of Malang Regency. The research sample size was computed using the rule of thumb in structural equation modeling (SEM), the sample size used was 245. Results: Results showed that the family's ability to care for children with ARFID was highly influenced by the caregiver's belief (t = 21.796; β = 0.713). Caregiver's belief became a dominant factor in the promotion of the family's ability to care for children with ARFID. A caregiver's belief was influenced by his/her behavior. Conclusions: It was concluded that the caregiver's belief serves as a primary factor in the promotion of the family's ability to care for children with ARFID. A caregiver's behavior holds a prominent role in influencing his/her belief in providing care for children suffering from ARFID.

Parenting Stress and its Associated Components Prior to an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Diagnostic Evaluation

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show increased levels of parenting stress, but only one study has examined this association before a diagnostic evaluation. We conducted a cross-sectional study of parenting stress in 317 low SES parents with children at-risk for ASD before a diagnostic evaluation. Multiple regression modeling evaluated the associations between parenting stress and parent and child factors. Parenting stress was negatively associated with social support and positively associated with active avoidance coping and parental worry. However, parenting stress was not associated with the child's ASD symptom severity or adaptive functioning, except for self-direction. Findings suggest parenting stress among parents of children at risk of ASD should be assessed prior to diagnosis.