[Parenting anxiety and childhood development of twins as compared to singletons]

Parenting anxiety has been highlighted recently because it tends to be a problem of mother-child relationships and a factor in child maltreatment. Compared to mothers of singletons, it is reported that mothers of twins experience a greater physical and mental burden of parenting. This study aims to investigate whether mothers of twins have more parenting anxiety than those of singletons and whether parenting anxiety affects child's mental development in both twin and singleton groups.

218 mothers of 0 to 2-year-old twins were recruited at seventeen organizations for twin rearing in Kinki area, western Japan, from March to May 2005. Questionnaires were mailed or handed out to the mothers. In all, 124 mothers of twins (56.9%) returned the questionnaires. 5 data sets were excluded because of twins' cerebral paralysis or other reasons and 119 data sets (96.0%) were analyzed. A total of 348 mothers of singletons were collected at four preschools and two public health centers in the same area from March 2005 to March 2006. Questionnaires were mailed or handed out and were returned by 101 mothers (28.1%). 4 data sets were excluded because of the presence of twins or over age children and 97 data sets (96.0%) were analyzed. The core questionnaires included the JCFRI Child Rearing Support Questionnaire for measurement of parenting anxiety and the Tsumori-Inage Infant Developmental Scale.

1. Compared to their counterparts with singletons, mothers of twins showed significantly higher scores for parenting anxiety, including general confusion of parenting and negative feelings toward their children. 2. On multiple logistic regression analysis, high parenting anxiety in mothers of 2-year-old twins, especially negative feelings were related to delay in the children's mental development. However, there was no significant relationship with twins aged 0 or 1 year and with singletons of 0 to 2 years of age.

The results suggest that negative feelings toward children influence mother-child interactions and complicate relationships. Parenting anxiety is a severe problem in mothers of twins not only because it causes mental problems in mothers but also because it has an impact on child mental development.