유아기 자녀를 둔 아버지의 자아존중감이 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향

A Study on the Effects of Self-esteem of Fathers with Young Children on Parenting Stress: Focused on the Mediating Effect of Marital Satisfaction and Depression

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the father’s self-esteem on parenting stress and the process in which self-esteem affects a father's parenting stress with marital satisfaction and depression as mediating variables. In summary, in our study, self-esteem as a psychological variable of the individual system has an influence on marital satisfaction, which has an influence on depression. In other words, positive psychological characteristics of the individual system have an influence on the couple system, which has an influence on the negative psychological characteristics of the individual system and, finally, on the parent-child system. In conclusion, parenting stress is affected by a combination of the individual’s psychological variables and dynamic factors of marital relationships, rather than being a mere burden of parenting children itself. In term of practical implications, it was found in the study that emotional support for fathers was ultimately connected to the quality of the family’s life, as it improves the marital relationship and the relationship with children, when importance is attached to joint responsibility for child-rearing and the role of the father. Thus, it is noted that policies for supporting parenting by fathers should be expanded to the dimension of emotional support for fathers.