The Impact of Accessibility to Community Public Leisure Facilities and Social Support on Mothers' Parenting Stress

This study aimed to examine the impact of accessibility to public leisure facilities and social support on mothers' parenting stress. An analysis was conducted on 1,296 mothers of 6th-grade children in the 13th wave (2020) of the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC). The results are as follows: First, the higher the accessibility to public leisure facilities in the community, the lower the stress related to the mother's parental role and overall parenting stress. Second, it was found that the higher the level of social support for the mother, the less stress related to their parental role and overall parenting stress. In particular, emotional support was proved to be the most influential, and it was verified that providing intimacy and trust first for raising children is an important factor that can reduce parenting stress. The findings of this study validate that enhancing accessibility to community leisure facilities and strengthening various social supports can reduce parenting stress for mothers with upper-grade elementary school children. This confirms the social importance of leisure support and suggests the significance of interventions through social relationship support to reduce parenting stress.