J Korean Matern Child Health .  2025 Jan;29(1):21-28. 10.21896/jkmch.2025.29.1.21.

The Effects of Family-of-Origin Health on Beliefs About Childbearing Among Unmarried Individuals: The Mediating Effect of Depression

• Lee EJ

• KMID: 2565267
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21896/jkmch.2025.29.1.21

Abstract

Purpose
Family-of-origin health and depression are crucial factors influencing beliefs about childbearing among unmarried individuals. This study explored the mediating role of depression in the relationship between family-oforigin health and beliefs about childbearing among unmarried individuals.
Methods
This study included 219 unmarried individuals aged 20 to 40, selected using convenience sampling from a university and church in Changwon city, Korea. Data were collected between June 1 and July 31, 2023, using structured questionnaires assessing family-of-origin health, depression, and beliefs about childbearing. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, 1-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and the PROCESS macro model 4.
Results
The average age of the study participants was 25.60±4.20 years. The sample comprised 135 females (61.6%) and 84 males (38.4%). Beliefs about childbearing were significantly positively correlated with family-oforigin health (r=0.21, p=0.002) and significantly negatively correlated with depression (r=-0.30, p<0.001). Familyof- origin health was also significantly negatively correlated with depression (r=-0.38, p<0.001). Depression acted as a mediator in the relationship between family-of-origin health and beliefs about childbearing among unmarried individuals, with an indirect effect of 0.04, and a 95% confidence interval of 0.01 to 0.08.
Conclusion
This study identified the family-of-origin health as a significant pathway influencing unmarried individuals' mental health and beliefs about childbearing. These findings have implications for interventions to address the declining birth rate.

Keyword

Depression; Family; Fertility; Health belief model; Intention

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The mediating effect of depression on the relationship between family-of-origin health and beliefs about childbearing. ***p<0.001.

Reference

Ajzen I., Klobas J. Fertility intentions: an approach based on the theory of planned behavior. Demographic Res. 2013. 29:203–32.

Bae GI. The influence of maternal psychological characteristics and family environment on the intension of childbirth and actual birth. Soc Welf Stud. 2015. 46:59–84.

Baek JH. A systematic review of studies on the factors related to the second childbirth of parents with one child. J Korean Assn Learn Cent Curric Instr. 2021. 21:65–81. https://doi.org/10.22251/jlcci.2021.21.6.65.

Carlsson E., Kim W. Do depression and loneliness affect fertility intentions and their realisation? Evidence from Norway and Sweden. Stockholm Research Reports in Demography no 2024. 11.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mental health conditions: depression and anxiety [Internet]. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;2023. [cited 2024 Oct 16]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/depression-anxiety.html.

Chen S. Relationship between original family parenting style and students' mental illness. Interdiscip Hum Commun Stud. 2024. 1(8):https://doi.org/10.61173/h4s78x71.

Choi BR. Ecological factors affecting the intention regarding marriage and childbirth among unmarried working women [master's thesis]. Suwon (Korea): Ajou University;2021.

Choi HJ. Children's temperament, working mothers' psychological factors, social support factors, factors of economic activity, and their impact on the subsequent birth plan. Korea Assoc Child Care Educ. 2015. 93:89–114.

Choi HM. The usefulness of family-of-origin approach and its methods in marital counseling. Korean J Fam Welf. 1997. 1:205–37.

Chon KK., Choi SC., Yang BC. Integrated adaptation of CES-D in Korea. Kor J Psychol. 2001. 6:59–76.

Eo HS., Youn YS. The influences of the family-of-origin health of the husband and wife on self-esteem and interpersonal relationships of children: verification of the mediator effects of self-differentiation and communication. Korean J Fam Welf. 2017. 22:493–519.

Hovestadt AJ., Anderson WT., Piercy FP., Cochran SW., Fine M. A family-of-origin scale. J Marital Fam Ther. 1985. 11:287–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.1985.tb00621.x.

Jang JM. Analysis of ecological system of the type of family in crisis-focusd on cases of crisis counseling [master's thesis]. Ulsan (Korea): Ulsan University;2018.

Jeong MS., Chae JY. The effects of a daycare center director's empowering leadership on childcare teacher job embeddedness: the mediated effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the mode rated mediating effect of job autonomy. Early Child Educ Res Rev. 2021. 25:5–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.32349/ECERR.2021.12.25.6.5.

Jung HJ. Parenting efficacy, family cohesion, awareness of childbirth encouragement policy, and additional childbearing intention of nurses with one child [master's thesis]. Gimhae (Korea): Inje University;2020.

Kang BJ., Choi YS. The effect of family health on the depression of university students: mediating psychological independence and self-efficacy. Korean J Hum Dev. 2016. 23:71–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.15284/kjhd.2016.23.3.71.

Kim SH., Bae SY. Analysis of convergent influence of job seeking stress, hopelessness and depression on childbirth perception among some college women. J Digit Converg. 2016. 14:389–97. https://doi.org/10.14400/JDC.2016.14.9.389.

Kim TW., Jeon WH., Kang JH., Koo JM., Kim YY., Park SB, et al. Comparison of childbirth perception between unmarried adult male and female and correlates of childbirth intention. J Kyungpook Nurs Sci. 2016. 20:29–39.

Lee BR. A study on the factors affecting the childbirth intention. J Next Gen Hum Soc Sci. 2020. 16:167–88. https://doi.org/10.22538/jnghss.2020.16.167.

Lee MJ. A study on the factors affecting the future childbirth intentions of married employed women [master's thesis]. Seoul (Korea): Korea University;2016.

Lim JH., Kim MJ. The influence of family of origin health on marital satisfaction perceived by dual income family: mediating effect of family Health. Asia-Pac J Multimedia Serv Converg Art Hum Soc. 2019. 9:807–16. https://doi.org/10.35873/ajmahs.2019.9.7.072.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Fertility rate [Internet]. Paris (France): Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development;2021. [cited 2024 Oct 11]. Available from: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/fertility-rates.html.

Park AH., Lee JM. A study on classification of parent's marital relationship, parent-child relationship and adult attachment on the marriage intentions of unmarried men and women. J Fam Relat. 2022. 26:33–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.21321/jfr.26.4.33.

Park MH., Hong JY. The married men and women family-of-origin health and marital adjustment: sequential dual mediating effects of self-compassion and conflict coping method. J Korean Assn Learn Cent Curric Instr. 2019. 19:659–89. https://doi.org/10.22251/jlcci.2019.19.14.659.

Radloff LS. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Psychol Meas. 1977. 1:385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306.

Richter K., Podhisita C., Chamartrithirong A., Soonthorndhada K. The impact of child care on fertility in Urban Thailand. Demogr. 1994. 31:651–62.

Seo YU., Byun SH. The effect of family health of origin health mediated by self resilience on conflict coping behaviors of married men and women. J Korean Assn Learn Cent Curric Instr. 2019. 19:647–67. https://doi.org/10.22251/jlcci.2019.19.20.647.

Shin YJ., Lee MJ., Jeon KH., Moon SH. Analysis of the realization of childbearing intentions and prediction of fertility rates. Health Welf Issue Focus. 2020. 403:1–10. Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (research report 2020-37).

Statistics Korea. Total fertility rate [Internet]. Daejeon (Korea),: Statistics Korea;2024. [cited 2024 Nov 10]. Available from: https://www.index.go.kr/unify/idx-info.do?idxCd=5061.

Yoo GS. Effects of perceived helicopter parenting on intention of childbirth and desired number of children among undergraduate students. Youth Facil Environ. 2014. 12:5–12.

Yoo YM., Jang WH., Lee JY. The effect of self concept clarity on regret: Focused on mediating effect of relational maximization and decision difficulty. J Hum Soc Sci. 2022. 30:249–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.22924/jhss.30.4.202212.011.

Zagefka H., Jones J., Caglar A., Girish R., Matos C. Family roles, family dysfunction, and depressive symptoms. Fam J. 2021. 29:346–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480720973418.