영유아건강검진 결과 및 또래 대비 자녀 발달지연 인식 경험과 어머니의 양육효능감 간의 관계: 양육불안의 매개효과와 전문기관 접근성 인식의 조절된 매개효과

초록

This study aimed to examine imothers' experiences and perceptions regarding developmental delays in their infants and toddlers, and to investigate the mediating effects of parenting anxiety and the moderated mediating effects by perceived ease of accessing information on specialized institutions in the relationship between mothers’ objective and subjective recognition of developmental delays and parenting efficacy. An online survey was conducted with 297 mothers of infants and toddlers. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS Macro 4.2 (Models 4 and 14). The findings were as follows. First, there were significant differences in the likelihood of visiting specialized institutions related to infant and toddler development depending on whether mothers received results other than ‘good’ in infant and toddler health checkups and whether they perceived developmental delays in their children compared to peers. Second, receiving results other than ‘good’ in infant health checkups and the perception of a child's developmental delay relative to peers influenced parenting efficacy through the mediation of parenting anxiety. Third, the mediating effect of this parenting anxiety was moderated by the level of ease of searching for and collecting information from community specialized institutions. These findings suggest that attention should be paid not only to objective indicators, such as health screening results, but also to mothers’ subjective perceptions of developmental delays based on comparisons with peers. The study highlights the importance of reducing parenting anxiety through education, counseling, and intervention programs, as well as improving the physical and psychological accessibility of information on community-based specialized services. Such efforts may contribute to establishing a more comprehensive support system for the early identification of developmental concerns and the promotion of healthy development among infants and toddlers.

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