Not so depressed but unhappy mothers: Korean mothers’ mental health and infant development

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between the psychological states of Korean mothers and early childhood development. In the study, 480 mothers were classified into three groups: cluster A mothers were happy and competent, cluster C were depressed and stressed, and cluster B were neither depressed nor happy. The tendency of infant developmental outcomes among the three clusters showed unexpected results. Infants in cluster C exhibited midlevel outcomes, whereas infants in cluster B showed the lowest development in all domains. These results showed that a mother’s confusing and unclear feelings apparently have a negative effect on their infant’s development. The findings of this study recommend that all new mothers, especially during the first year after birth, are to be supported with psychological education and counseling through screening, active monitoring, and initial treatment by health professionals.

KEYWORDS:

• Korean mothers
• mother’s mental health
• infant development
• mother and child relationships

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Boram Lee, Ph. D. is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Seoul National University, Korea. She has interests on promoting the resilience and well-being of marginalized children and families.

Hye Jun Park, Ed. D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies and in the Interdisciplinary Program in Early Childhood Education at Seoul National University, Korea. Her teaching and research interests focus on children with special needs and their families, caregiving, parenting education, mother-child health, and asset-based community-development.

Gyoung Hae Han, Ph. D. is a professor in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Seoul National University, Korea. She has done extensive research on interaction between human development and family characteristics over the life course.

Mina Chang, Ph. D. is the chairperson at the Institute of Transforming Families and Generations, SEOROIEUM. Korea. She has interests on developing education and policy for a healthy intergenerational network in family and society.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Boryung Medience.