Effect of Intensive Parenting Attitude on Maternal Well-Being and Self-Efficacy Among Japanese Housewives and Part-Time Working Mothers

Intensive parenting is a parenting style in which parents, especially mothers, devote significant portions of their time, money, and energy to their children. An intensive parenting attitude questionnaire has been developed that assesses five dimensions of intensive parenting attitude: (1) Essentialism, (2) Fulfillment, (3) Challenging, (4) Stimulation, and (5) Child-centered. Psychologists suggest this attitude can negatively impact maternal mental health or well-being, with the impact varying according to cultural and societal values or socioeconomic and occupational status. There is a need to investigate the effect of intensive parenting attitude on mothers with a focus on a specific culture and maternal background, especially in societies with strongly gendered division of labor. The questionnaire survey examined whether housewives with at least one infant or preschool-aged child (n = 467) and part-time working mothers (n = 148) were affected by intensive parenting attitude in Japan, where there is strongly gendered division of labor and mothers usually take on the burden of housework and childcare responsibilities. In this study, the effects of maternal socioeconomic status and perceived social support were controlled for in order to elucidate the link between intensive parenting attitudes and maternal well-being and self-efficacy. Results showed that, when controlling for socioeconomic status and perceived social support, each dimension of intensive parenting attitude was significantly associated with perceived maternal stress, general life satisfaction, and self-efficacy. Most surprisingly, Essentialism was negatively associated with perceived stress and positively associated with self-efficacy. These findings suggest that the effects of intensive parenting attitude on mothers depend on current child-rearing circumstances and societal or country values. Future research on intensive parenting attitude should consider social variables of mothers.