The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal causal relationships between maternal parenting stress and parenting attitudes. Relevant data from mothers with infants aged from 2 to 4 years of age was gathered from the Panel Study of Korean Children were analyzed by means of Latent Growth Modeling. The findings are as follows, First, levels of parenting stress increased whereas the extent of positive parenting attitudes decreased as children grow older. Second, the initial value of

more »

... enting stress was observed to have a negative effect on the initial value of positive parenting attitudes. Third, those mothers who generally have faster speeds of increasing parenting stress tend to have faster speeds of decreases in positive parenting attitudes. What this study clearly revealed is that the positive parenting attitudes of mothers with infants tend to improve when the mothers try to efficiently deal with their parenting stress by either acquiring appropriate parenting knowledge or receiving support from their families and communities.