The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mother's depression, mother's negative self-acceptance, and father's psychological health perceived by mother, mediated by marital quality, on children's internalizing & externalizing behavior...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mother's depression, mother's negative self-acceptance, and father's psychological health perceived by mother, mediated by marital quality, on children's internalizing & externalizing behaviors. On the basis of previous literature, the theoretical model was specified and estimated. Subjects of this study consisted of 285 preschool children's mothers(160 boys and 125 girls aged form 5- to 7-year-old) drawn from five child-care centers in Chung-ju City. The pilot study was used to examine the applicability of survey instrument.
The result was a statistically difference in the effect of mother's psychological factors on children's internalizing & externalizing behaviors according to the gender. Mother's depression was a statistically significant factor directly influencing on boy's internalizing behaviors and on girl's externalizing behaviors. Mother's negative acceptance was a statistically significant factor indirectly influencing on boy's internalizing behaviors through the marital quality. However, for girls it did have a direct effect on internalizing behaviors and indirect effect on externalizing behaviors. Father's psychological health perceived by mother was a statistically significant factor indirectly influencing on internalizing behaviors and directly influencing on externalizing behaviors for boys. On the other hand, for girls, father's psychological health perceived by mother had a direct effect on internalizing behaviors and indirect effect on externalizing behaviors through the marital quality. Therefore, marital quality. Therefore, marital quality can be a mediating variable for boys' internalizing behaviors and for girl's externalizing behavior. The findings of results is to generate more broad-minded thinking about how mother's psychological factors, marital quality, and children's internalizing behaviors are interrelated.