Mothers' Feelings about Child-Rearing and Depressive Symptoms : Focusing on the Use of Child-Rearing Support in Kindergartens(Part II Article on Free Topic)
The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of depressive symptoms among kindergarteners' mothers, to examine associations between mothers' feelings about child-rearing and depressive symptoms, to identify associations between such mothers' feelings and depressive symptoms, and to explore the use of extra child-care-hours at kindergartens by mothers. A questionnaire survey conducted in kindergartens revealed that 18.4% of 2,976 non-working mothers showed high scores on depressive symptoms, which is almost the same rate as postpartum depression. The result also revealed a correlation between depressive symptoms and feelings about child-rearing. Mothers with totals indicating higher perceived burdens of child-rearing tended to use extra child-care-hours more frequently and to feel less guilty about their childrearing methods than mothers having a low perceived sense of child-rearing burdens. We proposed screening and support systems for depressive mothers of kindergarteners.