The purpose of this study was to examine double mediating effects of work-family conflict and parenting guilt on the relationship between perfectionism and parenting behavior of working mothers. The survey was conducted on 340 working mothers with 3 to 5 year-old children, who lived in Daegu and Kyungpook Province, Korea. Data were collected through questionnaires on perfectionism, work-family conflict, parenting guilt, and parenting behavior. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, analysis of variance were conducted by using SPSS 22.0 and Model 6 in PROCESS macro, with bootstrapping method. Work-family conflict and parenting guilt were used as mediators, and children’s birth order and household income were controlled throughout the analysis.
The major findings of this study were as follows.
First, adaptive perfectionism had direct effects on working mothers’positive parenting behavior. The indirect path of the effect of adaptive perfectionism on positive parenting behavior through work-family conflict was significant. That through parenting guilt was also significant. Work-family conflict and parenting guilt had inconsistent double mediating effects on the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and positive parenting behavior. That is, working mothers with adaptive perfectionism showed more positive behavior, but adaptive perfectionism serially increased work-family conflict and parenting guilt, which in turn decreased positive parenting behavior.
Second, adaptive perfectionism did not have any direct impact on working mothers’negative parenting behavior. The indirect path of the effect of adaptive perfectionism on negative parenting behavior through work-family conflict was significant. That through parenting guilt was also significant. Work-family conflict and parenting guilt had complete double mediating effects on the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and negative parenting behavior. In other words, adaptive perfectionism did not increase negative parenting behavior, but serially increased work-family conflict and parenting guilt, consequentially increasing negative parenting behavior.
Third, maladaptive perfectionism had direct effects on working mothers’positive parenting behavior. The indirect path of the effect of maladaptive perfectionism on positive parenting behavior through work-family conflict was significant. However, no indirect effect of parenting guilt was found for the association of maladaptive perfectionism and positive parenting behavior. Work-family conflict and parenting guilt did not have double mediating effects on the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and positive parenting behavior. Namely, maladaptive perfectionism increased only work-family conflict, which in turn decreased positive parenting behavior.
Finally, maladaptive perfectionism had direct effects on working mothers’negative parenting behavior. The indirect path of the effect of maladaptive perfectionism on negative parenting behavior through work-family conflict was not significant. However, that through parenting guilt was significant. Work-family conflict and parenting guilt had partial double mediating effects on the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and negative parenting behavior. That is, working mothers with maladaptive perfectionism showed more negative behavior. Furthermore, maladaptive perfectionism serially increased work-family conflict and parenting guilt, resulting in increased negative parenting behavior.
Based on the results of this study, conclusions, implications, and future research direction were discussed.