[Childcare burdens perceived by mothers with an inter-pregnancy interval less than 12 months]

Objectives　The aims of this study were to investigate perceived childcare burdens among mothers with an inter-pregnancy interval of less than 12 months, and to identify the factors associated with those perceptions.Methods　Anonymous, self-administered questionnaires on inter-pregnancy intervals, the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS), and the childcare emotion scale were distributed to mothers who visited one of three health and welfare centers in City A for three-month well-baby checkups. Six hundred eighty-five subjects were classified into four groups according to their inter-pregnancy interval (<12 months apart; ≥12 months but <24 months apart; ≥24 months apart; and a group with no siblings), and they was used to analyze associations between the timing of pregnancy and the mothers' perceptions of their childcare burdens. Chi-squared tests, a one-way analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and linear regression analyses were used for analysis.Results　The inter-pregnancy interval was <12 months in 35 of the 685 respondents, ≥12 months but <24 months in 114 respondents, and ≥24 months in 194 respondents. There were 342 respondents in the no-siblings group. Linear regression analyses disclosed some factors associated with the subordinate items of the childcare emotion scale. "Feeling restricted by childcare duties" is significantly correlated to inter-pregnancy interval (P=.032), family composition (P=.014), time of sleeping (P=.010), and night wake-up time (P=.001). "Feeling of burden because of the child's attitude and behavior" was significantly related to inter-pregnancy interval (P<.001), mother's age (P=.003), time of sleeping (P=.009), and night wake-up time (P=.002). "Anxiety about the child's growth" was significantly related to inter-pregnancy interval (P<.001), mother's age (P=.016), and gestational age (P<.001). In addition, the group with gestation intervals of less than 12 months had significantly higher numbers of women in single-parent households (P=.005), who were unmarried (P=.007), had only a junior high school education (P=.0027), and were 24 years old or younger (P<.001).Conclusion　The pregnancy interval is significantly related to the "Feeling restricted by childcare duties," "Feeling of burden because of the child's attitude and behavior," and "Anxiety about the child's growth," even after adjusting the influence of other factors. In addition, the results of this study demonstrated that mothers in the <12 months group were more likely to be in a single-parent household, unmarried, with low educational attainment, and were 24 years old or younger. The results suggest that greater support is needed for these mothers.