This study was done to identify the relationship between goodness-of-fit for mother-preschool child dyads and parenting stress experienced by the mother.

Study participants were 500 mothers who had children aged 3 to 5 who attended one of ten kindergartens or infant schools in M City or B City. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated using the SPSS program.

Comparison of goodness-of-fit scores for mother-preschool child dyad according to the characteristics of the participants, showed a significant difference according to child's age, gender, and birth order, mother's education and occupation, father's age and education, family income, and the chief caregiver in the family. There was a positive correlation between goodness-of-fit scores for mother-child dyad and parenting stress scores for mothers.

The findings of the study indicate a need to identify differences between children's behavioral problems and parenting styles according to the degree of discord in the mother-child temperaments. It is also necessary to develop and apply nursing programs to promote harmonizing of temperaments, programs in which the characteristics of the child and the mother are considered.

This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of a maternal education program based on the temperament theory on the temperamental goodness-of-fit between mother and child.

The research method was a nonequivalent, control group, non-synchronized design and the experimental period was from May 10, 2004 to July 24, 2004. The subjects were mothers who had children 3-4 years old who registered in eight kindergartens or infant schools in M city. Among the total 94 subjects, 47 were allocated as an experimental group and 47 were a control group. Using the SPSS/WIN 10.0 program, the data was analyzed by a Chi-square test, and t-test.

1. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group significantly decreased in scores for perceived children's behavior problems in comparison to the control group(t=-4.01, p<.001). 2. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group did not significantly decrease in scores for parenting stress in comparison to the control group(t=-.85, p=.40). 3. After treatment with a maternal education program based on the temperament theory, the experimental group did not significantly decrease in scores for rejective parenting behaviors in comparison to the control group(t=-1.32, p=.19).

A maternal education program based on the temperament theory is a useful intervention to decrease perceived children's behavior problems.