PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify child-rearing practices and parenting efficacy of Marriage-Immigrant Women.
METHODS
The research design was a descriptive study using self-report questionnaires. Data were collected from May 16 to December 30, 2008. Marriage-immigrant women (n=186) were recruited in G Province, C Province and P city. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation coefficients with SPSS 14.0 were used to analyze the data.
RESULTS
The mean score for child-rearing practices was 40.61+/-6.67 and there were significant differences in child-rearing practices by nationality, and Korean language ability. The mean score for parenting efficacy was 67.67+/-12.14 and there were significant differences in parenting efficacy by age, nationality, marital period, age of first child and Korean language ability. There were significant positive correlations between child-rearing practices and parenting efficacy (r=.227, p=.002).
CONCLUSION
In this study, marriage-immigrant women showed a moderate level of child-rearing practices and parenting efficacy. Because child-rearing is mainly the mother's role in the family, knowledge, attitudes to child-rearing and parenting efficacy of mothers influence child-rearing practices and these then, affect children's health.
Therefore child-rearing educational programs for marriage-immigrant women should be developed to support the mothers' child-rearing practices and improve parenting efficacy.
