Changing parental roles according to children's developmental stages

초록

Parental factors have been studied and reported to influence child development in great many ways. However relatively little attention have been given on identifying the fundamental bases of parental roles. This study was designed to explore the true meaning of being a father and mother in contemporary Korean society by examining maternal and paternal roles perceived by mothers and fathers with children at different developmental stages. Total of three hundred and eighty five pairs of mothers and fathers with children aged from one to thirteen years wre recruited (78 families from nurseries, 83 families from preschools. 107 families from first grade, and 117 families from sixth grade). Mothers and Fathers were asked to completed a set of questionnaires about paternal and maternal roles each. A modified version of Generative Fathering Scales developed by Lee et al.(1999), were used to measure paternal and maternal roles perceived by fathers and mothers intwo areas: (1) parenting responsibilities, and (2) participation in childrearing practices. Generally fathers and mothers thought that a mother's role is more important in childrearing than fathers. Across all ages, a tendency was shown-mothers thought father's role more importantly than fathers, and fathers thought mother's role more importantly than mothers. There seemed to be more confusion about father's roles. Mothers believed spending time and participating caring and educational activities with their children were important father's roles whereas fathers themsselves did not seem to think so particularly. The importance of paternal and maternal roles decreased as children aged.