A study on maternal anxiety related child-realing and support system

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There is a growing concern about maternal anxiety relating to child-rearing and childcare-related stresses. The purpose of this study is to provide appropriate help and support for mothers who suffer from such anxiety. We have investigated the anxiety of the mothers who are in the middle of raising their infants.As a result, we have found that half of them have no confidence in being a parent. Seventy per cent of them have answered that they sometimes feel like taking out their stress on their children when they are tired and irritated. We have also learned that many of them inflict physical punishment on their children to discipline them. They have only poor childcare experience before becoming a parent and this seems to have led them to be confused with the gap between the reality of being a parent and their own images of childcare. It is also revealed that their husbands take very little care of their children and leave most of troublesome childcare and housework to their wives. The mothers are isolated from their neighbors and they bear the burden of childcare mostly by themselves with little support. Sixty per cent of the mothers have their free time only for an hour or less and ninety per cent wish to have more leisure time. Eighty per cent answered they were tired from childcare.From all of the above, we believe that it is indispensable to take measures to reduce the mothers' burden and responsibilities and to support and help them grow up to be good parents and recover their confidence.