The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mother's self-esteem, psychological and behavioral control on young children's problem behaviors. Mothers of 387 preschoolers from 3 to 5 year-old attending to 7 kindergartens located in Chungcheong and Gyeonggi area(boys 52.5%, girls 47.5%) responded to questionnaires which were sent out to them. The data thus collected data were analyzed by correlation analysis and path analysis using the SPSS and AMOS programs. The results of this study were as follows: First, mother's self-esteem clearly had an influence upon psychological and behavior control, and the mother's psychological control had an influence on the ways that young children externalized problem behaviors. However, mother's behavior control had no effect on young children's externalized problem behaviors. There was no significant direct effect of a mother's self-esteem on young children's externalized problem behaviors; however, the effect of mother's self-esteem on young children's externalized problem behaviors was mediated by the mother's psychological control. Second, mother's self-esteem had an influence upon children's internalized problem behaviors. Moreover, the effect of a mother's self-esteem on young children's internalized problem behaviors was mediated by the mother's psychological and behavior control. In conclusion, the effects of a mother's control behavior are different according to the type of young children's problem behavior under discussion. These results also suggest that it is important to understand the psychological factors which effect mothers (such as self-esteem) if we are to help prevent young children's problem behaviors.