The impact of mothers' empathy ability on mother-teacher cooperation in infancy: the mediating effect of parenting competency

Objectives The purpose of this study is to find out how the empathy ability of mothers of children in infancy affects mother-teacher cooperation and to verify the mediating effect of parenting competency that affects the causal relationship between these two variables. Methods An electronic survey was conducted on 284 mothers of infant children attending daycare centers in the Gyeonggi-do area. The collected data were subjected to reliability analysis, frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis to verify mediation effects using the SPSS 29.0 program, and Sobel-test was performed to verify significance. Results First, the relationships between mothers' empathy and parenting capabilities and mother-teacher cooperation in infancy showed a positive correlation. Second, a partial mediating effect of parenting competency was found in the effect of the mother's empathy ability on mother-teacher cooperation during infancy. Conclusions This study consistently shows that mother-teacher cooperation plays an important role in the development of infants, but research on the characteristics of parents necessary to promote this is relatively insufficient. In this situation, the empathic ability of mothers of children in infancy is influenced by teachers. The significance of the study is that it was proven to be a parental variable that has a significant direct and indirect effect on cooperation with parents. Based on this study, it is expected that parent education programs will be activated to improve parents' empathy and strengthen their parenting capabilities.