Parenting style, parenting stress, and children's health-related behaviors.

Objective: Parental guidance is critical to the development of children's health-related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to look at the relationship between parenting factors, including parenting style and parenting stress, and children's health-related behaviors.

Methods: In this descriptive, correlational study, 284 parents of preschool children were interviewed using the Child Rearing Questionnaire and the Korean Parenting Stress Index-Short Form.

Results: Parent distress, authoritative and permissive parenting styles, family income, and mother's education were significantly associated with children's health-related behaviors.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that higher levels of warmth, characteristics of both parenting styles, may be a critical factor in the development of health-related behaviors.