Childcare anxiety and ego states of mothers-comparison between infancy and preschool childhood

本研究の目的は，乳幼児を養育中の母親の育児不安について，児の発達段階（乳児と幼児）と母親の自我状態との関連性について明らかにし，育児不安の軽減をはじめとした，育児支援のあり方について検討することである．乳幼児を養育中の母親２５４名を対象に質問紙による「育児に関する意識調査」を実施し，２２５名の有効回答を得た．分析の結果，以下のことが明らかになった．１）母親の育児不安は，乳児期よりも幼児期に強くなる．２）育児不安と自我状態の関連では，育児不安が強い母親は，AC（順応した子どもの自我）のエネルギーが高く，AC に反応が偏り，他の自我が抑圧される傾向がみられた．基本的構えでは，「自己否定・他者肯定」「自他否定」の立場をとり，自分自身を肯定的にとらえられず自分に自信がないものと考えられた． 以上のことから，育児支援は，児の発達段階に応じた関わりと，母親が自分自身に自信が持てるような支援が重要である．The purpose of the present study was to analyze mothers’ childcare anxiety and ego states in different stages of child development and consider better childcare support including relief from such anxiety. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 254 mothers of children and 225 returned valid answers. Findings are as follows. （1）Childcare anxiety of mothers with preschool children (age of 1-6 years) was stronger than those of their infants (age of 0-11 months). （2）As to the relation between childcare anxiety and ego states, mothers with strong anxiety had strong AC (adapted child) energy, with predominance of AC and suppression of other ego states ; therefore, they could not take themselves affirmatively and hence lost confidence in their-selves. Accordingly, mothers need childcare support of the natures which are suitable for children’s development, and assistance to recover self-confidence