障害児の父親の育児行為に対する母親の認識と育児感情に関する調査研究

The objective of the present study was to investigate the relation between mothers' recognition of how much their husbands participated in raising their children with developmental disabilities, and the mothers' feelings about childrearing. Mothers (N = 98) of elementary and junior high school children with developmental disabilities completed a questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis provided 3 factors in the husbands' involvement in childrearing: mental involvement in childrearing, activities at home, and activities outside the home, and 4 factors in the mothers' feelings about childrearing: anxiety and burden, positive and future-oriented ways of thinking, loneliness, and self-evaluation as a mother. The mothers' feelings of positive and future-oriented ways of thinking correlated with their husbands' mental involvement in childrearing, activities at home. This implies that the mothers' positive feelings about childrearing were related to whether their husbands communicated frequently with them and understood their children's characteristics and behavioral patterns. This latter is considered to be especially characteristics of mothers of children with disabilities. The questionnaire also revealed that the mothers expected their husbands to provide considerable assistance with childrearing.