Parents’ Needs and Satisfaction Levels for Parenting Support Schemes Provided by Local Government: Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data

Abstract

We conducted a secondary analysis of the data derived from a cross-sectional survey among parents of school-age children in Japan. The present study explored variables associated with parents’ satisfaction with the local parenting environment. Multivariable logistic regression was used by entering parental satisfaction as a dependent variable and basic and parenting-related items as independent variables. A total of 2218 respondents were stratified by self-determined financial circumstances. A higher proportion of respondents stated low satisfaction with the local parenting environment and support schemes among the financially struggling group (50.4%) than among the non-struggling group (33.8%). Among the financially struggling group, the variables significantly associated with low satisfaction were a lack of parenting support (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.612) and being unable to use after-school children’s clubs (aOR = 1.747). Our exploratory analysis suggests that after-school children’s clubs can be expected to play a role in widening social networks and community connectedness among parents struggling financially. This role should be reflected in municipal welfare policy.

Keywords

parenting after-school children’s clubs financial support Japan children

Introduction

In response to the social issue of a rapidly increasing number of child abuse cases in Japan,¹ and in line with the revised Child Welfare Act and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act,² local governments are making efforts to enhance their support schemes for households raising children and to facilitate community-wide positive parenting. As evidence of the growing focus on improving the parenting environment, “the percentage of parents who want to raise children in a community” was adopted as one of the key health indicators in a national maternal and child health campaign.³ Example schemes to achieve such improvements include strengthening local parenting monitoring systems and promoting the use of local childcare support center programs, such as those that bring together local parents and their children to socialize in places that are easily accessible within their community.³ These community-based parenting support programs can help parents to develop the parenting skills needed to improve their children’s behavior.⁴ Through behavioral improvements and positive parenting, such programs can further reduce anxiety and stress among parents, thus improving their mental stability.^5,6 Strengthening parenting interventions can promote the well-being of children, parents, and families.⁷

Financial support is another important element of parenting support schemes, particularly because economic deprivation underpins parenting difficulties and is a common factor in the occurrence of child abuse.^8,9 Yet, a recent study reported that the effects of expanding financial childcare support (child benefit) vary depending on household income in Japan.¹⁰ Child benefit expansion was shown to increase parents’ preference for child education in higher-income households, but not in lower-income households, indicating a need to consider ways to enhance educational preference in low-income families when providing financial support.¹⁰

In the Japanese education system, children enter school in the first April after they turn 6 years of age, attending elementary school from the first to sixth grades and then junior high school from the seventh to ninth grades. These 9 years of elementary and junior high school education are compulsory. Before entering elementary school, children are eligible for childcare services at kindergartens and nurseries, but once they enter elementary school, these services are no longer available. Therefore, working parents face the difficulty of securing after-school care for children once they begin elementary school. Facilities providing an appropriate place for children to play, spend time, and healthily develop are called “after-school children’s clubs,” and are an important part of the parenting and childcare environment. In addition, there are also facilities that offer study support and various other support programs, and the national government is currently making efforts to comprehensively promote these after-school services.¹¹

Building on the findings of previous research and current child support policy in Japan, we conducted a secondary analysis on the response data from a needs survey among parents of preschool and school-age children in Fukushima City in Japan. The survey was conducted by the local government when planning an expansion of financial parenting support, including the revision of fees for after-school children’s clubs. The aim of our analysis was to assess parental satisfaction with the parenting environment and how its associated variables differ depending on financial status, and to feed the obtained findings back into the planning and development process for future support schemes.

Methods

Analytical Data

The data were from the cross-sectionally designed needs survey conducted in 2018 relating to the planning and development of parenting and childcare support schemes in Fukushima City, a prefectural capital city in northern Japan. The purpose of the survey was not only to gain an understanding of parents’ requirements for education and childcare, but also to fully capture the current situation and issues regarding the environment around children, and to reflect this in future service planning. The survey was conducted in December 2018 in 2 parts: 1 targeting households with preschool children, and 1 targeting households with elementary school children. The results of the latter survey were the subject of analysis in the present study. A random sample of 2900 elementary-school-age children were selected for the survey, and the questionnaire was distributed to and collected from their guardians via the school attended by their children. The valid response rate was 86.9% (2511 responses). The survey was conducted anonymously, and the results data received from Fukushima City contained no personally identifiable information.

Analysis Items

The variables were extracted from the municipal survey data by using the conceptual framework presented in Figure 1. The main focus of our analysis was the respondent’s satisfaction with the parenting environment and support schemes provided by Fukushima City, and how satisfaction differed depending on the self-determined financial circumstances of the parent’s (respondent’s) household. After stratifying by the respondents’ financial status, we analyzed the following items as variables relating to satisfaction levels: child’s school grade, number of siblings, respondent’s marital status, primary carer for the child, availability of someone from whom the respondent can seek advice about and assistance with childcare, parenting self-confidence, mother’s employment status, and use of after-school children’s clubs.

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework for analysis.

Respondents were asked to indicate the financial circumstances of their household using a 5-point scale (comfortable, somewhat comfortable, average, somewhat struggling, and seriously struggling), with those answering somewhat or seriously struggling being defined as financially struggling, and others being defined as financially comfortable/average. Respondents were asked to rate their degree of satisfaction with the local parenting environment and support schemes on a 5-point scale (1 as the lowest satisfaction and 5 as the highest satisfaction). Because the distribution of responses was concentrated in ratings of 3 points (which is likely to occur in self-administered surveys in Japan) and was low for higher scores (4 and 5 points), we categorized the scores of 1 to 2 and 3 to 5 points as low and medium/high satisfaction levels, respectively. The elementary school grades of the respondents’ children were grouped into grades 1 to 2 and 3 to 6, and categorized as lower and middle/higher grades, respectively. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that about 60% of after-school club users are students in grades 1 to 2. The answer options for the primary carer for the child were set as “both parents together,” “mainly mother,” “mainly father,” “mainly grandparents,” and “others.” The answer to the question on the availability of someone from whom the respondent could ask for advice and obtain assistance was set as either yes (someone was available for both roles) or no (no one was available for 1 or both of these roles), that of whether the respondent ever lacks parenting self-confidence was set as either yes or no, and that of the mother’s employment status was set as working full-time or not working full-time. The father’s employment status was not included because less than 2% of fathers were not working full-time. The use of after-school children’s clubs was classified as “user,” “not required,” or “unable to use,” with those answering “unable to use” also asked to give the most significant reason. For the purposes of our analysis, these answer options were dichotomized into “user/not required” and “unable to use” because those respondents who stated they were using the program or did not require the program were deemed to already have their parental service needs met, while those who were unable to use the program were deemed to have an unmet need.

Statistical Analysis

For this secondary analysis, we excluded the following cases (n = 138) in which the primary carer for the child was neither “both parents together” nor “mainly mother” on the basis that their parenting situation and support needs would be largely different: “mainly fathers” (n = 34), “mainly grandparents” (n = 54), and “others” (n = 26), along with 24 non-responses. In addition, there were 162 and 25 excluded cases lacking information on satisfaction with parenting environment and financial status, respectively. With 32 overlapping cases among the exclusion criteria, a total of 2218 responses were analyzed.

We stratified the survey respondents according to their self-determined household financial circumstances (comfortable/average or struggling), and performed logistic regression analysis to examine variables related to the lower levels of satisfaction with the parenting environment and support schemes provided by Fukushima City. In this exploratory analysis, we entered items that were statistically significant (P < .05) in the univariable analysis into the multivariable analysis without applying a missing value treatment. In addition, we conducted a sensitivity analysis to compare results when the satisfaction level was grouped into 2 (low vs medium/high) and 3 (low, medium, and high). We used IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 28.

Ethical Considerations

The data used in our analysis were generated from an anonymous survey conducted by local government. Because this study comprises a secondary use of anonymous data, the Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects do not apply, and ethical approval from Fukushima Medical University’s Institutional Review Board was waived.

Results

Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the respondents. Regarding the respondents’ children, 29.8% were in the lower grades of elementary school, and 26.9% had no siblings. Regarding the parents themselves, 10.2% were not married, and the mother was the primary carer for the child in 46.0% of households. In terms of having someone from whom they could obtain advice about raising children or practical assistance with childcare, 11.6% of respondents did not have anyone who could fulfill 1 or both of these roles, and 61.5% of the respondents answered that they sometimes lacked confidence in their parenting skills. Overall, 39.4% of respondents were categorized as having a low level of satisfaction with the parenting environment and support schemes in Fukushima City, and 33.5% indicated that they were financially struggling. Finally, 42.1% of mothers were working full-time, and 9.7% of respondents were unable to make use of after-school children’s clubs.

Table 1.

Characteristics of survey respondents.

	(Total N = 2218)
	n	%
Child’s elementary school grade
Lower grades	657	29.8
Middle/higher grades	1551	70.2
Missing	10
Number of siblings
None (ie, only child)	590	26.9
1 or more	1602	73.1
Missing	26
Marital status
Married	1991	89.8
Not married	225	10.2
Missing	2
Primary carer for child
Both parents together	1197	54.0
Mainly mother	1021	46.0
Someone available to give advice and assistance
Yes	1960	88.4
No	258	11.6
Sometimes lack parenting self-confidence
Yes	1356	61.5
No	849	38.5
Missing	13
Satisfaction with child-rearing environment and support
Medium/high	1344	60.6
Low	874	39.4
Financial circumstances of household
Comfortable/average	1476	66.5
Struggling	742	33.5
Mother’s employment status
Working full-time	913	42.1
Not working full-time	1256	57.9
Missing	49
After-school children’s clubs
User/not required	1983	90.3
Unable to use	214	9.7
Missing	21

The percentages listed for each category exclude missing survey responses.

Table 2 presents variables associated with satisfaction with the local parenting environment and support schemes, for the financially comfortable/average group. The proportion of respondents reporting low satisfaction in this group was 33.8% (500/1,476). We found that the odds ratios for low satisfaction were significantly higher for lower grades of school, not being married, mainly mother acting as primary carer for the child, lacking parenting self-confidence, and being unable to use after-school children’s clubs. When we entered these variables as covariates in a multivariable logistic regression analysis, we found significant associations for child’s school grade (lower grades: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.416), marital status (not married: aOR = 1.637), lack of parenting self-confidence (no: aOR = 0.603), and use of after-school children’s clubs (unable to use: aOR = 1.911).

Table 2.

Association of Lower Satisfaction with Local Parenting Environment and Support, and Related Factors, for Financially Comfortable/Average Group.

	Satisfaction level
	Low group		Medium/high group		Univariate analysis^a			Multivariable analysis^a
	N = 500	%	N = 976	%	OR	95% CI	P-value	aOR	95% CI	P-value
Child’s elementary school grade
Lower grades	175	39.1	273	60.9	1.383	1.098-1.743	.006**	1.416	1.118-1.794	.004**
Middle/higher grades	323	31.7	697	68.3	1.000			1.000
Number of siblings
None (ie, only child)	50	37.2	253	62.8	1.227	0.966-1.560	.094
1 or more	343	32.6	710	67.4	1.000
Marital status
Married	459	33.1	926	66.9	1.000			1.000
Not married	40	44.9	49	55.1	1.647	1.069-2.538	.024*	1.637	1.031-2.598	.037*
Primary carer for child
Both parents together	263	31.2	580	68.8	1.000			1.000
Mainly mother	237	37.4	396	62.6	1.320	1.062-1.640	.012*	1.128	0.892-1.427	.313
Someone available to give advice and assistance
Yes	452	33.6	893	66.4	1.000
No	48	36.6	83	63.4	1.143	0.787-1.659	.484
Sometimes lack parenting self-confidence
Yes	325	38.7	515	61.3	1.000			1.000
No	172	27.3	458	72.7	0.595	0.476-0.744	<.001***	0.603	0.480-0.757	<.001***
Mother’s employment status
Working full-time	222	36.7	383	63.3	1.244	0.998-1.550	.052
Not working full-time	267	31.8	573	68.2	1.000
After-school children’s clubs
User/not required	434	32.4	907	67.4	1.000			1.000
Unable to use	61	50.0	61	50.0	2.090	1.439-3.034	<.001***	1.911	1.302-2.805	<.001***

Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.

The numbers for some categories do not sum to the total number (N) because of missing survey responses.

Using logistic regression analysis.

P < .05, **P < .01. ***P < .001.

Table 3 shows the level of satisfaction with the local parenting environment and support schemes, and related variables, for the financially struggling group. The proportion of respondents reporting low satisfaction in this group was 50.4% (374/742). We found that the odds ratios for low satisfaction were significantly higher for those respondents having no 1 available to ask for advice and assistance relating to childcare and for those unable to use after-school children’s clubs. Both variables remained significant in the multivariable analysis: no one available for 1 or both support roles (aOR = 1.612) and unable to use clubs (aOR = 1.747). Of note, we analyzed trends among the respondents when divided into 3 groups (low, medium, and high) based on their stated satisfaction levels on the 5-point scale (Supplemental Tables 1 and 2). However, we found no particular differences between the medium- and high-satisfaction groups.

Table 3.

Association of Lower Satisfaction with Local Parenting Environment and Support, and Related Factors, for Financially Struggling Group.

	Satisfaction level
	Low group		Medium/high group		Univariate analysis^a			Multivariable analysis^a
	N = 374	%	N = 368	%	OR	95% CI	P-value	aOR	95% CI	P-value
Child’s elementary school grade
Lower grades	109	52.2	100	47.8	1.102	0.800-1.519	.551
Middle/higher grades	264	49.7	267	50.3	1.000
Number of siblings
None (ie, only child)	95	50.8	92	49.2	1.029	0.738-1.434	.867
1 or more	275	50.1	274	49.9	1.000
Marital status
Married	303	50.0	303	50.0	1.000
Not married	71	52.2	65	47.8	1.092	0.753-1.585	.642
Primary carer for child
Both parents together	185	52.3	169	47.7	1.000
Mainly mother	198	48.7	199	51.3	0.868	0.650-1.158	.334
Someone available to give advice and assistance
Yes	297	48.3	318	51.7	1.000			1.000
No	77	60.6	50	39.4	1.649	1.117-2.434	.012*	1.612	1.087-2.393	.018*
Sometimes lack parenting self-confidence
Yes	265	51.4	251	48.6	1.000
No	108	49.3	111	50.7	0.922	0.672-1.264	.613
Mother’s employment status
Working full-time	155	50.3	153	49.7	0.994	0.740-1.334	.967
Not working full-time	210	50.5	206	49.5	1.000
After-school children’s clubs
User/not required	313	48.8	329	51.2	1.000			1.000
Unable to use	58	63.0	34	37.0	1.793	1.142-2.814	.011*	1.747	1.110-2.748	.016*

Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.

The numbers for some categories do not sum to the total number (N) because of missing survey responses.

Using logistic regression analysis.

P < .05.

Table 4 shows the specific reasons given by respondents who answered that they were unable to make use of after-school children’s clubs. The most common reasons were “fees too high” and “no facility exists (or known of) locally,” each corresponding to nearly 30% of respondents.

Table 4.

Reasons for Being Unable to Use After-School Children’s Clubs.

	(N = 214)
	n	%
Oversubscribed	37	17.3
Fees too high	65	30.4
No facility exists (or known of) locally	57	26.6
Other	55	25.7

This was a single-choice question to select the most significant reason.

Discussion

Our obtained results, although preliminary, indicated that a half of financially struggling parents were not satisfied with the local parenting environment and support schemes, compared with only one-third in the non-struggling group in Japan. As for variables associated with low satisfaction level, parents’ inability to make use of after-school children’s clubs was associated for both financial status groups. In addition, unavailability of a parenting support network was associated with low satisfaction in the financially struggling group, whereas a wider range of variables (child in lower school grade, being unmarried, and lacking parenting confidence) were associated in the non-struggling group.

The results of the present study indicated that there was high demand for after-school children’s clubs among parents, regardless of their financial circumstances. Although the number of after-school children’s clubs in Japan continues to increase rapidly,¹¹ it has been noted that, in addition to the expansion of the after-school childcare system and strengthening of relevant policies, more research is required to evaluate and find ways to improve the quality of after-school clubs in Japan.¹² According to studies conducted in other countries, parents’ knowledge of their children’s whereabouts after school was beneficial to their own practical parenting as well as their children’s mental health,¹³ and parents recognized after-school programs to be a safe place for their children to be after school.¹⁴ In addition, it was reported that children’s participation in after-school programs might reduce the risk of depression in parents, regardless of their financial circumstances.¹⁵ Regarding the effects on children themselves, it was reported that after-school music programs could improve mental health, prevent anxiety and depression, and increase resilience among children,¹⁶ and that after-school programs increased children’s creative self-efficacy.¹⁷ Based on the accumulating evidence, making improvements to after-school children’s clubs and other after-school programs would contribute to the healthy growth and development of children and reduce the childcare burden on parents.

Our comparison of groups according to self-determined financial circumstances indicated that the financially struggling group contained a higher proportion of respondents who stated low satisfaction with the local parenting environment and support schemes, and that both their use of after-school children’s clubs and the availability of someone from whom they could ask for parenting advice and obtain assistance were variables that affected their satisfaction levels. Parents in households that are struggling financially are particularly likely to require support in securing after-school care for their children to enable them to enter or continue employment with complete peace of mind. For this reason, the expansion of after-school clubs that contribute to the healthy growth and development of children is an important policy that requires rapid implementation.¹¹ After-school children’s clubs could also be expected to play a role in widening parents’ social networks and community connectedness.

The present exploratory study had several limitations. The data collection was focused on a single municipality, and the survey contained a limited number of question items. Furthermore, the survey responses included missing values, and self-reported financial status may not be valid as an economic measure. Because this study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data, it is not possible to ascertain causal association.

In summary, our secondary analysis of municipal survey data showed that despite differences in parents’ satisfaction with the local parenting environment depending on their financial status, access to after-school children’s clubs was the single common associated variable. Further research over a wider region in Japan, as well as greater societal attention, on the potential positive impacts of after-school programs is warranted.

Supplemental Material

sj-xlsx-1-jpc-10.1177_21501319231199978 – Supplemental material for Parents’ Needs and Satisfaction Levels for Parenting Support Schemes Provided by Local Government: Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-1-jpc-10.1177_21501319231199978 for Parents’ Needs and Satisfaction Levels for Parenting Support Schemes Provided by Local Government: Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data by Takehiro Arai and Aya Goto in Journal of Primary Care & Community Health

Supplemental Material

sj-xlsx-2-jpc-10.1177_21501319231199978 – Supplemental material for Parents’ Needs and Satisfaction Levels for Parenting Support Schemes Provided by Local Government: Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-2-jpc-10.1177_21501319231199978 for Parents’ Needs and Satisfaction Levels for Parenting Support Schemes Provided by Local Government: Secondary Analysis of Cross-Sectional Survey Data by Takehiro Arai and Aya Goto in Journal of Primary Care & Community Health

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We thank the Child Policy Section of the Fukushima City Children’s Futures Department for providing the data used in this study and for their cooperation in interpreting the results. We also thank Oliver Stanyon for translating and editing a draft of this manuscript, and journal reviewers for improving the manuscript.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare project grant [grant number 21DA1002].

ORCID iD

Takehiro Arai

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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