Parental Anxiety: Societal Influences and the Fear of Judgment in Parenting

Description

Page: 40-46

Clara Ferrao and Shaili Misra (Unitedworld School of Liberal Arts and Mass Communication, Karnavati University, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat)

Parental anxiety is now far more important for psychological well-being of both parents and their children due to social pressure and the fear of being judged. Social media has amplified these pressures by promoting idealized images of parenthood, making parents feel inadequate. This study uses Social Comparison Theory and Self-Efficacy Theory to explore the relationship of societal pressures, fear of judgment, and parental anxiety. As derived from the correlation and regression analyses, the results indicated a strong association with fear of judgment, explaining 94.66% of the variance in parental anxiety (R² = 0.9466) and the results also indicates societal expectations and parental anxiety are strongly positively correlated, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96085. The findings indicate a need for communities to become supportive, for sources of parenting information to be realistic, and for a culture change toward empathy and understanding to alleviate stress and facilitate more healthy and resilient parenting practices.