The purpose of this study was to understand how all those different child-rearing styles of mothers
depending on their self-efficacy would influence the mothers’ parental stress. The third annual data
of Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC) (1,802 children - both boys and girls - of ages between
23 months and 31 months and their families) conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and
Education was utilized as the subject of the study. Data were analyzed by means, standard deviation,
Cronbach's α tests, Pearson's correlation, and using variables of the mothers’ self-efficacy, child-rearing
style and parental stress, the study estimated a structural equation model. The results of the study
was as follows. First of all, according to the findings from the analysis on the correlations of the
mothers’ self-efficacy with the child-rearing style and the parental stress, the lower the mothers’
self-efficacy, the more negative the child-rearing style and the greater the parental stress. In addition,
the study confirmed that the more positive the child-rearing style, the lower the parental stress.
Second, the paths of the structural model and the standardized coefficients were analysed and, the
results reported that the mothers’ self-efficacy has a negative effect on the child-rearing style but a
positive one on the parental stress. Add to that, it was observed that the child-rearing style is
considered significant as it is negatively related to the parental stress. In other words, it was
concluded that the effects of the self-efficacy in relation to the child-rearing style and the parental
stress appear to be significant and that the self-efficacy is mediated by the child-rearing style.