Mental health research recognized that a subgroup of the general population at risk for emotional disturbance is that of single parent women. A volunteer sample of 248 women was accessed from women's support groups for this study. The purpose of this research was to assess the extent to which the single parent woman experiences distress, and the relationship between this distress level and the coping resources the single parent woman possesses. The level of social support, both in family and work environments, was also assessed in its relationship to distress. The cognitive, coping strengths of women were measured by the use of the three Cognitive Trait Scales (Pearlin and Schooler, (1978). Three Family Environment Scales and three Work Environment Scales (Moos, 1986) measured the degree of support the single parent woman maintains. All nine of these scales were used as independent measures. The Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1975) was the dependent measure and assessed the degree of somatic distress phenomena experienced by the respondent. Research questions asked (1) whether there were differences in the degree of distress experienced by single parent women based on their demographic factors; (2) what was the relationship between cognitive strengths/coping resources and the level of distress in the single mother; (3) what was the relationship of family and work support systems to the experience of distress in the single parent woman? To answer the first question, ANOVA correlation comparisons were made by demographic distinctions; the latter two questions were analyzed by multiple regression techniques. The Cognitive Traits Scales yielded the most significant results in this study. The demographic factors of number of children under 18, number of adults in the household, income, and number of losses experienced by the parent yielded modest but significant contributions to the model. / Ed. D.

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The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of maternal stress as it relates to the mothers' perceived social behaviors of their preschool children in both immigrant Korean families in the US and Korean families in Korea. The subjects included 49 immigrant Korean mothers in the US and 52 Korean mothers in Seoul, Korea. This study is relevant to current research because of the dramatically increasing Korean immigrants in the US and needed information concerning unique cultural and psychosocial needs of Korean-Americans. All mothers completed the Demographic Survey, Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales-2 (PKBS-2). Statistical analyses of the data used for the study were multiple regressions, independent t-tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Data analysis revealed that (a) there were different demographic variables affecting maternal stress between immigrant Korean mothers in the US and Korean mothers in Korea; (b) there was no significant difference in maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's social skills in the areas of social cooperation, social interaction, and social independence between both groups; (c) there was a significant difference in preschool children's behavioral problems in the areas of externalizing and internalizing social-emotional behaviors between both groups; (d) there was a negative relationship between maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's social skills, and (e) there was a positive relationship between maternal stress and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's behavioral problems in both groups. Findings from this study showed that US immigrant Korean children and their mothers could experience stress in mother-child interaction and culturally expected gender behaviors. This study provides information that could be helpful for early childhood educators who work with Korean young children and their families in regards to the process of acculturating to the United States.