Relationships between the socioeconomic status of females who raise their children and their health-related QOL/child-raising stress

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K12284
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Lifelong developmental nursing
• Research Institution: Iwate University of Health and Medical Sciences
• Principal Investigator: Emori Yoko 岩手保健医療大学, 看護学部, 教授 (70114337)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 川野 亜津子 筑波大学, 医学医療系, 准教授 (10550733)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 社会経済的地位 / 健康格差 / 母親の健康 / 育児ストレス / 健康関連QOL / 質問紙調査

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of Socioeconomic status (SES) on the health-related quality of life of females who raise their children, mother’s stress due to child rearing and subjective sense of well-being. The subjects were females with infants one year or older and under the age of three attending nursery schools. Self-completed questionnaire survey forms were distributed to the mothers and 381 responses were collected.
The mean age of the subjects was 33.5 years old. The 94% of females were on the job. The mean yearly income of 9.5% of the households was lower than four million yen. The percentage of females who had experienced problems related to daily life was 2 to 4%, and 1.8% of the females were often in difficult situations. There was almost no correlation with their child care stress and General Health Questionnaire scores(GHQ).

Free Research Field

看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

資本主義社会では、社会階層と経済的階層は相関がある。教育、職業、収入等は、個人や集団の社会的地位や階層を反映するだけでなく、健康状態とも関連がある。しかし、SESが幼い子どもを持つ母親の健康や育児ストレスに、どのような影響を与えるのかはよくわかっていない。
本研究は、SESが育児中の女性の健康関連QOL（Health Related Quality of Life尺度）、育児ストレス、主観的幸福感とどのような関連があるかを調査したものである。本調査においてはSESと、GHQ尺度、育児ストレス尺度との相関はみられなかった。しかし、医療者は、生活苦を訴える母親の存在を軽視すべきではない。