Developing Parenting Stress Scale for International Marriage Immigrant Women in South Korea: Focused on Vietnamese and Filipino Marriage Immigrant Women

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to evaluate parenting stress of international marriage immigrant women from Vietnam and the Philippines.

Methods: The concept of parenting stress of international marriage immigrant women was analysed with a hybrid model. Data were collected from 273 international marriage immigrant women from Vietnam and the Philippines who were raising their children aged 1 to 6 years. These collected data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis, multitrait/multi-item matrix assessment, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency measurement.

Results: The final instrument consisted of 28 items. The following six factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis: 'insufficiency of parenting support system', 'role burden of mothers', 'maladjustment of children', 'confusion of parenting methods due to cultural differences', 'unskilled Korean communication', and 'ordinary difficulties'. Construct validity (factor analysis, convergent validity, and discriminant validity) and criterion-related validity were confirmed. Cronbach's α value of total items was .92(95% CI .91-.94). Cronbach's α of values for these factors ranged from .76 to .85.

Conclusion: The parenting stress scale for international marriage immigrant women is a valid and reliable tool.

Keywords: Immigrants; Parenting; Psychological stress; Women.