Introduction
In Korean society, where academic success is highly valued, mother of middle school students often experience cosiderable parenting role stress due to social expectations emphasizing children's achievement. Middle school second year, when developmental characteristics of adolescence and academic burdens converge, is a period of high parenting role stress and child-rearing burdens, so much so that a new term, 'middle school second year syndrome,' has emerged in Korea. Particularly in a context where traditional gender role perceptions persist, mothers are often seen as solely responsible for their children's achievements, leading to significant parenting role stress during this period.
Purpose
This study examines how parenting role stress among mothers of eighth-grade children affects their subjective well-being, focusing on the mediating roles of social support and marital conflict to identify the underlying mechanisms.
Method
Data were drawn from 1,225 mothers participating in the 15th Korea Child Panel Survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Child and Family Policy. Mediation analysis was performed using Hayes' PROCESS Macro Model 4, and bootstrapping was used to verify the significance of indirect effects. Mother's age, education level, and household income were controlled for.
Results
Mothers' parenting role stress negatively affected subjective well-being (β = -.26, p < .001). Parenting role stress also decreased social support (β = -.15, p < .001) and increased marital conflict (β = .35, p < .001). Social support positively predicted mothers' subjective well-being (β = .06, p < .05), whereas marital conflict negatively predicted it (β = -.34, p < .001).
Conclusions
In Korean society, reducing parenting role stress and marital conflict while strengthening social support networks can improve the subjective well-being of mothers with adolescnet children.