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Maternal Work-Life Balance and Children's Social Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Parenting Practices.

ABSTRACT: The participation of women with young children in the Japanese labor force has increased dramatically in recent years, bringing growing potential for conflict between work and family roles amid inadequate social systems, such as childcare support. Thus, work-life balance (WLB) of mothers may influence their children's mental health and lifestyle. This study aims to clarify the relationship between parents' WLB and children's mental health, as well as the underlying factors of parental stress and nurturing attitude. The study is based on a questionnaire survey administered in 2019 to fifth-grade elementary school students and their caregivers in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The regression results indicated that the higher the work-family negative spillover, the higher the child's externalizing and internalizing problems, and the higher the positive spillover, the lower the problems and the higher the prosocial behaviors. Path analysis indicates that maternal WLB is negatively and positively related to children's behavior through maternal stress and parenting practices. The study suggests that maternal WLB is related to children's emotional and behavioral problems. WLB may impact children's emotional and behavioral problems through parents' mental health and involvement with their children, particularly because of work arrangements changing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Hosokawa R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8297251 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundOur knowledge of the role of parental and child-care staff behavior in the development and prevention of obesity is rapidly increasing. Potential interaction between both settings in so-called meso-systems, as hypothesized by the ecological systems perspective, is however often ignored. Specifically, inconsistency between home and child-care is hypothesized to have negative effects on child outcomes.MethodsParticipants were recruited through 23 child-care centers in the Netherlands. Data regarding 161 child-parent-child-care staff triads were available. Parenting and child care practices were assessed using validated questionnaires for parents (Child Feeding Practices Questionnaire, Preschooler Physical Activity Parenting Practices instrument) and child-care staff (Child-care Food and Activity Practices Questionnaire), using similar items in both settings. Absolute difference scores between parents and child-care staff were calculated for each triad as a measure of meso-system consistency. Child outcomes were physical activity (as assessed by accelerometry), dietary intake (from the parental questionnaire), and measured BMI z-scores. Paired t-tests were used to examine consistency between practices in both settings. Linear regression analyses were used to explore the association of parenting practices, child-care practices and difference scores on the one hand, and child outcomes on the other.ResultsSignificant differences between settings were found for almost all practices, and in most cases child-care staff scores more favorable on the practices than parents. Inconsistencies were mostly associated with unhealthy dietary intake and lower physical activity levels, but not with BMI.ConclusionThe current study showed that inconsistencies in parenting and child-care practices exist, and that these inconsistencies seem to be associated with unhealthy behavior in children. The results underline the importance of studying meso-system influences on behavior in general, and children's energy balance-related behavior specifically.

Project description:Childhood obesity is a global problem, disproportionately affecting children in low-to-middle income countries (LMIC). Despite this evidence, no previous study has adapted instruments measuring children's movement behaviors and associated parenting practices for use in LMIC families. This study reports the results of a cross-cultural adaptation of previously validated measures of children's movement behaviors and parenting practices in economically disadvantaged Brazilian families. Study 1 involved translation of the instruments from English to Portuguese. A team of translators (fluent in both English and Portuguese) and researchers followed established procedures for translating measurement scales, identifying problematic items, and reaching consensus on discrepancies. Study 2 involved cognitive interviews with 24 parents from urban and rural North-eastern Brazil addressing the format, content, and clarity of the items. Half the parents provided feedback on the first 33 items of the questionnaire, with the remaining parents providing feedback on the final 29 items. Notes were recorded during the interview and parents' feedback summarized in a report. In the translation and back-translation, 15 discrepancies were identified. These were mostly due to multiple Portuguese words having the same meaning in English. The research team discussed these discrepancies and consensus was reached to ensure that the concepts depicted in the Portuguese version were consistent with the English version. In the cognitive interviews, parents identified minor problems with item comprehension resulting in minor adaptations to response options, recall period, and format of the questionnaire. The process of translation and cognitive interviews conducted in Brazilian families resulted in an appropriate cultural adaptation of scales measuring children's movement behaviors and parenting practices. Future studies should evaluate the validity and reliability of the measures in LMIC families.

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Maternal Work-Life Balance and Children's Social Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Parenting Practices.

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