Parenting Efficacy and Health-promoting Behaviors for Children of Mothers from Native and Multicultural Families in Korea

• Main Authors: Sophia Jihey Chung, MSN, RN, Kyung-Sook Bang, PhD, RN
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2015-06-01
• Series: Asian Nursing Research
• Subjects: child; cultural diversity; health promotion; mothers; parenting
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S197613171500033X

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the levels of parenting efficacy and health-promoting behaviors for children of mothers, and to explore the relationships between parenting efficacy and the behaviors of mothers from native and multicultural families in South Korea. Methods: Data was collected by a self-report questionnaire completed by 258 mothers who had 6-month to 36-month-old children attending kindergartens or multicultural family support centers located in Seoul and in Gyeounggi Province, South Korea. Results: No significant difference in parenting efficacy was found, depending on the maternal country of origin. However, Chinese mothers performed health-promoting behaviors more frequently for their children than Korean and Vietnamese mothers did (F = 6.87, p < .001). The significant positive correlations between parenting efficacy and maternal health-promoting behaviors for children were found, regardless of maternal country of origin (r = .57, p < .001 for Korean, r = .42, p < .001 for Chinese, and r= .40, p < .001 for Vietnamese mothers). Conclusions: Since maternal health-promoting behaviors were different depending on the native country of the mothers, maternal country of origin should be considered in designing programs for improving maternal health-promoting behaviors for their children. In addition, increasing the level of parenting efficacy can be an effective way for improvement of maternal health-promoting behaviors.