The Impact of Maternal Parenting Anxiety on Young Children’s Emotional Intelligence: The Mediating Effect of Father-Child Interaction

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the impact of maternal parenting anxiety on young children’s emotional intelligence, as well as the mediating effect of father-child interaction on their relationship. To achieve this, we examined how maternal parenting anxiety is perceived in father-child interaction and elucidated the pathway leading to young children’s emotional intelligence.Methods: The study participants included 372 pairs of mothers and fathers of five-year-old children enrolled in 50 daycare centers located in Seoul and metropolitan areas, and 81 daycare teachers. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0. The PROCESS macro version 3.4 was used to verify the mediating effect.Results: Firstly, maternal parenting anxiety did not directly affect the children’s emotional intelligence. Second, father-child interaction mediated the relationship between maternal parenting anxiety and children’s emotional intelligence. Based on these results, it was found that low levels of maternal parenting anxiety can induce high levels of children’s emotional intelligence through father-child interaction.Conclusion: Based on these results, it is necessary develop a plan to promote healthy functioning of the mother-father variables influencing young children’s emotional intelligence. In particular, father-child interaction was found to significantly affect children’s emotional intelligence. This indicates that it is possible to alleviate maternal parenting anxiety and enhance positive father-child interaction by improving healthy parenting values and skills and establishing common child-rearing goals.