Parental Stress Among Working Mothers of School-Aged Children in South Korea: Do Work-Life Balance Policies Work?

BACKGROUNDS: Most working women in South Korea are juggling between work and family, and working mothers of school-aged children encounter even higher stress. Employment rate drops to its lowest level among working mothers of school-aged children, mainly because of difficulties in balancing life and work. Supporting working mothers is an important agenda in South Korea, as such, daycare services and parental leaves for working mothers are officially provided to help mothers continue their career. However, there is limited knowledge on the effectiveness of work-life balance policies among working mothers of school-aged children in South Korea. This study aimed to examine whether those policies designed to reduce parental stress and improve work-life balance are achieving its goals.

METHODS: This study analyzed data from the 2015 Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). The PSKC is a panel study started in 2008 that is designed to inform policies on child development, parenting, and work-family balance. Children and one of their parents participate in this survey every year. This study used data gathered in 2015 when children in the panel study started school. A total of 631 working mothers in the panel were included in the final analysis. The final model examining factors associated with parental stress included individual factors (age, general health, depression, self-esteem), child factors (behavioral problems, physical disabilities, psychological disorders), marital factors (household income, marriage conflict, work-life conflict), and policy factors (the use of policies related to work-life balance such as daycare center at workplace, maternal leave, paternal leave, flexible working hours etc.). Factors associated with parental stress among working mothers were examined with multiple regression.

RESULTS: Most working mothers in this study were in their 30s and had about 2 children on average. About 80% of the study participants have ever benefited from one of work-life balance policies. Approximately two-thirds of participants reported that there were workplace childcare programs but only half of them ever used one of those programs. Regression analysis showed that neither work-life balance policies nor workplace childcare programs significantly reduced parental stress. Instead, individual and marital factors were significantly associated with parental stress among Korean working mothers. Working mothers with poor general health, low self-esteem, and more depressive symptoms were experiencing significantly higher parental stress. Conflict with their spouse in relation to the work-life balance and low marital satisfaction significantly increased parental stress.

CONCLUSIONS: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of work-life balance policies on parental stress among working mothers of school-aged children in South Korea. Main findings of this study implied that those policies may need to be redesigned. Work-life balance policies and programs are mainly focused on childcare assistance for working mothers of infants and toddler. As parental stress may increase as children start school, we need more programs for working mothers of school-aged children. Current services may be also missing what is important for working mothers as a human. Work-balance policies need to include programs for psychological health of working mothers and improve quality of the relationship between spouses.