A Structural Equation Model for Happiness in Mothers with Young Children

Mijung Yeom; Soo Yang

doi:10.4040/jkan.2019.49.3.241

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Yeom and Yang: A Structural Equation Model for Happiness in Mothers with Young Children

Original Article

J Korean Acad Nurs 2019;49(3):241-253.

Published online: 15 January 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2019.49.3.241

A Structural Equation Model for Happiness in Mothers with Young Children

Mijung Yeom¹, Soo Yang^2,

¹College of Nursing, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul

²Department of Nursing, Kyungbok University, Namyangju, Korea

Address reprint requests to : Yang, Soo Department of Nursing, Kyungbok University, 425 Kyeongbokdae-ro, Namyangju 11138, Korea Tel: +82-31-570-9759 Fax: +82-31-570-9568 E-mail: sooy@kbu.ac.kr

Received 4 October 2018 Revised 8 February 2019 Accepted 8 February 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0) If the original work is properly cited and retained without any modification or reproduction, it can be used and re-distributed in any format and medium.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to develop and test a model of the happiness of mothers with young children based on the stress-coping-adaptation model of Lazarus and Folkman.

Methods

The data collection period was from May to July 2016. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data from 210 mothers with children under 5 years of age living in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Gangwon provinces. The exogenous variable was parenting stress, and the endogenous variables were parenting alliance, depression, optimism, ways of coping, and happiness. Data from 201 questionnaires were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.

Results

The final modified model showed a reasonable fit to the data, and out of 25 paths, 13 were statistically significant. This model explained 78.4% of the variance in the happiness of mothers with young children and confirmed that depression, optimism, parenting alliance, and social support-focused coping have a direct effect on the subject's happiness. Parenting stress also influenced happiness through parenting alliance, depression, and optimism.

Conclusion

In order to bolster the happiness of mothers with young children, positive psychological interventions that can minimize psychological vulnerabilities, such as depression, and that can enhance their strengths, such as optimism, may serve as effective ways of coping with and adapting to stress.

Keywords: Mothers, Happiness, Models, Structural

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Figure 1.

Theoretical and hypothetical framework.

Figure 2.

Path diagram of the modified model.

Table 1.

General Characteristics of the Subjects (N=201)

Variable	Categories	n (%)	Happiness (M±SD)	F/t	p	Scheffé
Age (yr)	≤29	29 (14.5)	60.36±17.70	1.48	.229
	30~39	164 (81.5)	63.84±14.53
	≥40	8 (4.0)	70.37±12.28
Educational level	High school	15 (7.4)	63.46±22.92	0.80	.453
	College	143 (70.8)	62.72±13.85
	Graduate school	43 (21.8)	65.99±15.65
Job	Housewife	101 (50.3)	64.48±15.91	0.61	.609
	Professional	57 (28.4)	62.61±13.37
	Office work	22 (10.9)	61.10±14.03
	Others	21 (10.4)	64.55±16.80
Economic status	High	2 (1.0)	50.00±39.28
	Middle high^a	40 (19.9)	70.28±15.60	5.06	.001	a>b
	Middle	119 (59.2)	63.83±12.82
	Middle low^b	34 (16.9)	56.23±17.85
	Low	6 (3.0)	56.48±9.13
Religion	Yes	104 (51.5)	64.71±15.54	1.49	.223
	No	97 (48.5)	62.10±14.54
Number of children	1	122 (60.9)	63.13±15.34	0.26	.775
	2	72 (35.6)	63.73±14.78
	≥3	7 (3.5)	67.20±12.77
Childcare provider	Yes	160 (79.7)	62.94±14.93	1.04	.309
	No	41 (20.3)	65.63±15.51
Child's health status	Healthy	165 (82.2)	64.22±15.24	1.15	.318
	Normal	34 (16.8)	60.35±13.69
	Unhealthy	2 (1.0)	56.48±22.26
Health status	Healthy^a	97 (48.0)	67.87±13.71	9.16	<.001	a>b,c
	Normal^b	91 (45.5)	59.97±15.17
	Unhealthy^c	13 (6.5)	55.41±15.09
Marital satisfaction	Very satisfied^a	24 (11.9)	75.54±12.22
	Satisfied^b	119 (59.3)	65.98±13.12	17.99	<.001	a>b>c,d,e
	Normal^c	48 (23.8)	55.98±12.86
	Dissatisfied^d	7 (3.5)	43.39±11.89
	Very dissatisfied^e	3 (1.5)	35.19±19.51

Table 2.

Descriptive Statistics of the Measured Va riables (N=201)

Variables	M±SD	Range	Skewness	Kurtosis
Happiness	63.52±15.02	17~94	-0.48	-0.07
Parenting stress	78.20±17.06	39~127	0.51	0.26
Optimism	16.51±3.46	6~24	-0.44	0.09
Depression	13.71±8.75	0~47	0.97	1.04
Parenting alliance	53.18±9.97	20~70	-0.52	0.41
Problem-focused coping	3.45±0.54	2~5	-0.15	0.12
Social support-focused coping	3.23±0.62	2~5	-0.41	0.13
Emotion-focused coping	2.91±0.41	2~5	0.35	1.03
Hope-focused coping	3.54±0.43	2~5	-0.04	0.01

M=mean; SD=standard deviation.

Table 3.

Standardized Direct, Indirect, and Total Effects for the Modified Model (N=201)

Endogenous variables	Exogenous variables	Direct effect (p)	Indirect effect (p)	Total effect (p)	SMC
Parenting alliance	Parenting stress	-.40 (.004)	-	-.40 (.004)	.16
Depression	Parenting stress	.65 (.010)	.07 (.023)	.73 (.003)	.56
	Parenting alliance	-.18 (.047)	-	-.18 (.047)
Optimism	Parenting stress	-.52 (.004)	-.13 (.200)	-.65 (.003)	.47
	Parenting alliance	.22 (.034)	.08 (.478)	.23 (.026)
	Depression	-.06 (.643)	-	-.06 (.643)
Problem-focused coping	Parenting alliance	.15 (.053)	.04 (.065)	.19 (.017)	.08
	Optimism	.22 (.024)	-	.22 (.024)
	Depression	.05 (.493)	-.01 (.497)	.04 (.587)
Social support-focused coping	Parenting alliance	.11 (.176)	.06 (.014)	.17 (.027)	.12
	Optimism	.29 (.009)	-	.29 (.009)
	Depression	.02 (.825)	-.02 (.541)	-.01 (.942)
Emotion-focused coping	Parenting alliance	.02 (.876)	.01 (.832)	.03 (.811)	.02
	Optimism	.15 (.230)	-	.15 (.230)
	Depression	.17 (.069)	-.01 (.423)	.16 (.066)
Hope-focused coping	Parenting alliance	.23 (.007)	.04 (.106)	.27 (.004)	.15
	Optimism	.30 (.010)	-	.30 (.010)
	Depression	.14 (.154)	-.02 (.598)	.12 (.222)
Happiness	Parenting alliance	.17 (.002)	.16 (.033)	.33 (.002)	.78
	Problem-focused coping	-.10 (.082)	-	-.10 (.082)
	Social support-focused coping	.15 (.004)	-	.15 (.004)
	Emotion-focused coping	-.01 (.831)	-	-.01 (.831)
	Hope-focused coping	-.07 (.345)	-	-.07 (.345)
	Optimism	.27 (.013)	.01 (.999)	.28 (.016)
	Depression	-.59 (.003)	-.03 (.467)	-.62 (.002)

SMC=Squared Multiple Correlations.

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