Abstract
Objectives: The purpose of the this study is to investigate parenting stress of married dental hygienists having preschool and school aged children. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 242 married dental hygienists from September to December, 2015 via e-mail and ordinary mail. The questionnaire consisted of demographics, job-related characteristics, family life satisfaction, and parenting stress. The data were analyzed using Stata 13.0 program. Results: As for job-related characteristics, 36.6% of the subjects answered 'not possible' in work hour flexibility. The reasons why family-work balance is difficult were 'parenting and education(58.7%)' and 'burden of family-work balance(32.4%)'. Family life satisfaction was 3.03, and parenting stress was 2.41. Parenting stress gets higher if their children are younger, monthly income is lower, and mother/father's age are lower. And parenting stress becomes higher if their career as dental hygienists is less, they are contract worker, and frequency to change jobs is higher. Concerning the reason why work-family balance is difficult, parenting stress is found to be high when they choose 'parenting and education', 'burdens of work-family balance', and 'relationship in workplace'. Family life satisfaction reduced parenting stress. According to the results of multiple linear regression analysis, frequency to change job influences parenting stress. Conclusions: Parenting stress increases turnover and career interruption of married dental hygienists. It is hard to improve work environment without policy support. It will be necessary to establish policy for employed mothers and create a work atmosphere where the policy can be utilized without difficulty.