Influence of hardiness, mother-child interactions, and social support on parenting stress among North Korean refugee mothers: a cross-sectional study

PURPOSE: This study investigated the factors that influence parenting stress, including hardiness, parent-child interactions, and social support, to provide basic data for developing a program to reduce parenting stress in North Korean refugee mothers. METHODS: A descriptive study design was used. Data were collected between September and December 2021, and 123 North Korean refugee mothers participated. RESULTS: The mean scores were 69.42 out of 135 for hardiness, 48.45 out of 144 for interactions, 47.32 out of 90 for social support, and 51.84 out of 90 for parenting stress. The parental distress score was higher than that of child-related stress. Hardiness was significantly related to North Korean refugee mothers' parenting stress. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the explanatory power for hardiness and the number of supporters was approximately 19% for parenting stress (F=6.84, p<.001). As such, the factors with a relatively strong influence on parenting stress were hardiness (β =-.40, p<.001) and having four or more supporters (β=-.27, p=.027). CONCLUSION: This study's findings suggest the need to identify ways to increase North Korean refugee mothers' psychological hardiness and encourage them to extend their sources of social support and enhance their style of parenting.