손자녀 양육 경험이 중노년 여성의 정신건강에 미치는 영향: 자녀와의 관계 만족도의 매개효과 검증

Abstract

본 연구는 손자녀 양육 경험이 중노년 여성의 정신건강에 미치는 영향을 알아보고자 수행되었다. 구체적으로 손자녀 양육 경험이 중노년 여성의 정신건강(삶의 만족도, 우울)에 미치는 영향을 살펴보았고, 손자녀 양육 경험이 중노년 여성의 정신건강에 미치는 영향이 자녀와의 전반적인 관계 만족도에 의해 매개되는지를 검증하였다. 본 연구는 한국노동연구원의 고령화연구패널조사(Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging: KLoSA) 3차 자료를 이용하여 1명 이상 자녀가 있는 50세 이상의 여성 응답자 2,744명을 최종적으로 선정하여 SPSS WIN 21.0 프로그램을 이용하여 분석하였다. 위계적 중다회귀분석과 Sobel Test를 통한 자료분석 결과, 손자녀 양육 경험은 중노년 여성의 삶의 만족도를 높이는데 기여하는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 손자녀 양육은 자녀와의 전반적인 관계 만족도를 증가시킴으로써 중노년 여성의 삶의 만족도에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 그러나 손자녀 양육이 중노년 여성의 우울에 영향을 미친다는 증거는 발견되지 않았다.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of raising grandchildren on middle-elderly women’s mental health. The study looked at two aspects of middle-elderly women’s mental health, satisfaction with life and depression. It also examined if the association between grandchild-rearing and mental health was mediated by the satisfaction in grandmother-adult child relationship. In this study, middle-elderly women raising their grandchildren are defined as women who have experience raising grandchildren under age 10. The final sample of 2,744 female respondents over 50 with more than one child was selected from 7,920 who were tracked until the third wave of KLoSA(Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging). Measured variables were grandchild-rearing experience, mental health (satisfaction with life and depression), and satisfaction with the relationship with their adult children. SPSS WIN 21.0 program was used for analysis, and multiple regression analysis was used to examine whether raising grandchildren affects middle-elderly women’s mental health. Also, Sobel test was conducted after performing hierarchical multiple regression analysis to find out if satisfaction in the relationship with adult children mediates the association between grandchild-rearing and middle-elderly women’s mental health. The results of this study are as follows: First, raising grandchildren had an impact on middle-elderly women’s mental health in terms of satisfaction with life. In other words, grandchild-rearing caused a higher level of life satisfaction in middle-elderly women, while no evidence was found to prove its impact on depression. Second, the satisfaction in a grandmother-adult child relationship mediated between grandchild-rearing and life satisfaction. In other words, middle-elderly women’s level of life satisfaction was increased by raising their grandchildren, with indirect effects from satisfaction in their relationship with their adult child.