A comparison of mothers' and fathers' experience of parenting stress and attributions for parent–child interaction outcomes

Abstract

Parents of children with disabilities are vulnerable to parenting stress, which may place them at physical and psychological risk. However, it is not clear whether fathers experience stress differently to mothers, or whether their experiences are reported less frequently. Additionally, there is little reported on the relationships and gender differences between mothers' and fathers' attributions for parent child interaction outcomes. Parenting stress was assessed in this study using Abidin's (1990) Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and parenting attributions were assessed using the original (Bugental et al., 1989; Bugental and Shennum, 1984), and modified versions of the Parenting Attribution Test, also known as the Child Interaction Survey (CIS) (M-CIS: Esdaile and Greenwood, 1995b). Participants were 53 mothers and 25 fathers of children with disabilities. Having a child with a disability was associated with elevated scores on the PSI; some gender differences were found. Only one significant outcome was found on the assessment of parenting attributions. Thus, the findings suggest that further research is indicated to explore differences in mothers' and fathers' experiences of parenting stress, and the assessment of parenting attributions. The fact that having a child with a disability was associated with elevated scores on the PSI for both mothers and fathers indicates the importance of considering stress management as an integral part of occupational therapy programmes that involve parents of children with special needs. Therapists also need to consider possible gender differences when planning stress management programmes including both mothers and fathers of children with disabilities.

Fathering Occupations: An Analysis of Narrative Accounts of Fathering Children with Special Needs

“…Researchers in the area of family studies describe the birth of a baby as a significant transitional state that is intensified by having a child with a disability (Esdaile & Greenwood, 2003;Hornby, 1992;Pelchat et al, 2007). Historically it has been believed that the disability experience can only be a negative one for families (Risdal & Singer, 2004).…”

Parenting stress of caregivers of young children who are HIV Positive

“…8 Having a child with a disability or a chronic health condition has repeatedly been shown to increase parenting stress. [9][10][11][12][13][14] Dyson (2001) examined parental stress and family functioning in families with children with handicaps. She found that parental stress was high and was independent of economic and social constraints and that levels of stress did not affect family functioning.…”

Raising a child with disability and dealing with life events

“…This is the case in Tina's story where she expresses that 'I will never recover, there is no escape from the constant bereavement'. While several studies have established that parents of children with a disability, particularly mothers experience more stress, higher levels of anxiety (Esdaile and Greenwood, 2003;Estes et al, 2009;Seymour et al, 2013) increased sadness, a sense of denial and guilt (Ergu¨n and Ertem, 2012), and there is a need for health and social care professionals to proactively support families and listen to and value what they say and their knowledge of their child as this is essential to an effective working relationship (Blacher et al, 2005;Keen, 2007;Tomasello et al, 2010). Within Tina's story, she often felt isolated and alone and left feeling that the professionals avoided addressing the issue of her coping 'it surprised me that nobody could see my pain'.…”