본 연구의 목적은 영아를 키우는 초보 어머니들의 양육 특성은 어떠하며 현대의 사회적 상황과 연계되어 나타나는 양육의 어려움을 탐색하기 위한 것이다. 따라서 본 연구 참여자는 첫 자녀를 양육하고 있는 초보 어머니 3인과 17개월, 18개월의 영아들이며 초보어머니들의 양육세계를 이해하고자 참여 관찰, 면접, 어머니들의 구술사 및 저널쓰기 등을 통해 질적 연구를 실시하였다. 연구 결과, 초보 어머니들은 ‘지식 지향적인 해석과 반응’, ‘친사회적행동 지향의 의미전환과 부정적 감정의 축소’의 양육 특성을 보였다. 초보 어머니들이 겪는 어려움은 분리불안과 영아 요구에 대한 적정선 찾기, 이유가 불분명한 부정적 감정표출 다루기, 체력적인 어려움, 사회적 흐름에 맞는 양육을 위한 선택 갈등으로 인한 어려움을 나타냈다. 이러한 연구결과는 처음으로 자녀를 키우는 부모들의 문제를 인식하고 이를 예방하기 위한 양육지원책 마련의 기초 자료를 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

This study aims at taking a look at what is the characteristics of inexperienced mothers' parenting are and their difficulties with an infant-nurturing shown in link with the social context in modern times. For collecting and analyzing data, I conducted participant observation, interviews, and mothers' oral history, and mother's journal in order to understand the upbringing world of theirs by selecting the three inexperienced mothers and 17 and 18-month-old infants as a survey target for this research. According to the result of this study, inexperienced mothers showed a role characteristic of ‘knowledge-oriented interpreter and response’, ‘a pro-social behavior-oriented converser of a meaning and reduction of negative emotion’. The difficulties inexperienced mothers had were separation anxiety from their infants, control for an infant's demand, dealing with an infant's negative expression of emotion for vague reasons, physical strength, and selecting appropriate parenting style with newer social trends. The results of this study are expected to offer basic data to support inexperienced infant-rearing mother by creating a plan to recognize their problems and to prevent those.

This study aims at taking a look at what is the characteristics of inexperienced mothers' parenting are and their difficulties with an infant-nurturing shown in link with the social context in modern times. For collecting and analyzing data, I conducted participant observation, interviews, and mothers' oral history, and mother's journal in order to understand the upbringing world of theirs by selecting the three inexperienced mothers and 17 and 18-month-old infants as a survey target for this research. According to the result of this study, inexperienced mothers showed a role characteristic of ‘knowledge-oriented interpreter and response’, ‘a pro-social behavior-oriented converser of a meaning and reduction of negative emotion’. The difficulties inexperienced mothers had were separation anxiety from their infants, control for an infant's demand, dealing with an infant's negative expression of emotion for vague reasons, physical strength, and selecting appropriate parenting style with newer social trends. The results of this study are expected to offer basic data to support inexperienced infant-rearing mother by creating a plan to recognize their problems and to prevent those.

Inexperienced Mother, Parenting Characteristic, Parenting Difficulties