The Effectiveness of Family System Theory-Based Group Counseling Program on Self-Differentiation and Parenting Anxiety of Mothers with School-Age Children

Objectives This study was conducted to verify the effects of a family system theory-based group counseling program on the self-differentiation and parenting anxiety of mothers with school-age children. Methods To this end, the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to verify the homogeneity of the self-differentiation and parenting anxiety of the experimental group and the control group, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to verify the pre- and post-differences after the program was applied. Results In the case of the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the overall self-differentiation and overall parenting anxiety, but there was no significant difference in the control group. In particular, in the case of the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the factors of maintaining one's own position, being emotionally influenced, and merging with others among the factors of self-differentiation, and in the factors of parenting anxiety, such as anxiety about attachment to children, concern for children, and anxiety due to parental role efficacy. Conclusions This study has great practical implications in that it developed a group counseling program for mothers with school-age children to improve self-differentiation and reduce parenting anxiety.