The effect of self-determination on time perspective and child-care anxiety

Abstract

This study examines the effect of self-determination on time perspectives and child-care anxiety from a viewpoint of life course. A total of 1,726 mothers with small children participated in a questionnaire survey. They were classified into four groups based on their planned life courses: mothers who work; mothers who stopped working, but plan on returning to work; mothers who don’t want to work and plan to stay at home; and mothers who stopped working, but plan on returning to work when their children grow up. Child-care anxiety was classified into four categories: (a) sense of stagnation and sacrifice, (b) fatigue, (c) diffidence, (d) feeling disaffection. The results show that fulfillment associated with child-care anxiety exists for all groups and factors of child-care anxiety, and that fulfillment was influenced by differences between self-determination and self-determination desires. The effect of self-determination on time perspectives and child-care anxiety differed between groups. It is suggested that society should provide different support to mothers with small children and child-care anxiety related to their different planned life courses.