The development of a measure of parental stress, the Parental Stress Scale, is presented. All participants (total N = 1276) completed the Parental Stress Scale and some also completed the Parenting Stress Index, a generic measure of stress called the Perceived Stress Scale, relevant measures of emotions and role satisfaction (e.g. loneliness, marital satisfaction, guilt, etc.), and one group completed the Parental Stress Scale twice. Analyses suggested that the Parental Stress Scale is highly reliable, both internally and over time, and related to the general measure of stress. Also, results were consistent across parents of differing parental characteristics, suggesting the stability of scale characteristics. The validity of Parental Stress Scale scores was supported by predicted correlations with measures of relevant emotions and role satisfaction and significant discrimination between mothers of children in treatment for emotional/behavioral problems and developmental disabilities vs mothers of children not receiving treatment. Finally, a factor analysis suggested that a 4-factor structure underlies responses to the Parental Stress Scale, despite its high internal reliability.

Parenting stress is a cross-cultural concept and is impacted by specific family and life circumstances. Parenting stress is amplified by challenging life situations including poverty, single parenting, and parental separation, but parenting stress is counteracted by the inherent benefits of parenting including intrinsic feelings of warmth and love. The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) was created in 1995 to measure stress unique to parenting and captures both the joys and demands of parenting. The current study reviews two decades of research that incorporated the PSS. We present descriptive data from published studies that all used the same parenting stress measure and provide cross-study comparisons. The studies we review evidence diverse use of the PSS in eight countries and PSS translation into four languages. This review is intended to aid future researchers with interpretation of relative differences in descriptive statistics of parenting stress by providing descriptive data from different samples worldwide.

This study examined the impact of attitude and hypothetical situational encounters on affective, behavioral and cognitive responses of nondisabled employees toward coworkers with disabilities. Subjects completed the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale, and responded to 1 of 9 situations of varying levels of intimacy in which they imagined themselves and a person with an immediately obvious disability. Their affective, behavioral and cognitive reactions were assessed by 3 different measures. Both more negative attitudes and situations with higher discomfort levels resulted in the most negative responses. Attitude and situation independently influenced responses. These findings provide a basis for interventions by rehabilitation professionals who work with individuals with disabilities and for employers seeking to implement the Americans with Disabilities Act.With the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the United States Government has extended civil rights to include people with disabilities. This act protects the rights of persons with disabilities in the workplace, and much attention has been given to accommodating physical needs. As people with disabilities seek to exercise this new right and employers move to implement this decree, a problem beyond physical accommodation may be present -attitudes within the workplace. Rehabilitation professionals can intervene to assist both employers and people with disabilities to overcome negative attitudes encountered in the workplace by helping people with disabilities exercise their rights and by assisting employers in successfully integrating people with disabilities into the workforce.The Americans with Disabilities Act is estimated to apply to 43 million individuals, but only 34% of those of working age are employed full time. However, two out of three of these unemployed individuals with disabilities say they would like to work, according to a Louis Harris & Associates poll

Fathers in dual-earner families ( N = 447) participated in three studies. The first two studies were designed to devise a brief measure of stress experienced by employed men in dual-earner families. The resulting Workplace/Family Stress Scale was found to be a reliable and valid measure of this construct. An ecological systems framework was utilized for study design and analyses in the third study. This study explored contributions from various system levels to the work/family stress dynamic. Results indicated that all system levels examined (the individual, the family microsystem, and the workplace microsystem) contributed to experienced stress, with the greatest contribution coming from the family microsystem. Implications of these findings for fathers involved in multiple roles and for their families are discussed.

Bronfenbrenner's social ecology model is applied to families that include a member with a developmental disability who are involved in the process of transition from institution to community. An overview of the model is presented as well as discussion of counselors' use of it in providing services to families in this situation. The social ecology perspective can be applied to enhance understanding of the families and to provide a framework for structuring family support during the community transition process.