Parental stress and life satisfaction: A comparative study of social services users and nonusers from a gender perspective

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) scale have not been verified on the Spanish population. Similarly, the literature on gender differences and parental stress is inconclusive, and there is little evidence of their relationship with life satisfaction. To analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PSS scale, (2) to examine possible gender differences, and (3) to study the relationship between parental stress (PS) and parental rewards (PR) and satisfaction with life (SWL) attending to the possible moderating effect of gender. These objectives were examined in samples comprising Social Services Users (SSU) (N = 525; 78.3% female; Mage = 38.3) and non‐SSU users (N = 421; 41.1% male; Mage = 37.08). A CFA corroborated a two‐factor structure: PS and PR. In the SSU sample, mothers showed higher PS and lower PR. However, PR was also higher in mothers from the non‐SSU sample compared to fathers. PR and PS were directly related to SWL in the SSU sample. However, gender moderated the relationship between PR and SWL in the non‐SSU sample in the case of mothers. The results are discussed considering gender roles and the characteristics of both samples.

Early Family Experiences, Drug Use, and Psychosocial Adjustment across the Life Span: Is Parental Strictness Always a Protective Factor?

“…An important limitation of some previous studies is that they relate parenting to a certain component of adolescent adjustment (e.g., school adjustment) ( Glasgow et al, 1997 ), but do not consider the different adjustment components through various indicators (the present study uses 10 indicators). Despite multiple intra- and extrafamilial influences ( Gomez-Ortiz et al, 2022 ; Gomez-Ortiz & Sanchez-Sanchez, 2022 ), parenting affects (positively or negatively) very different components of adjustment (see Baumrind, 1993 ). Parenting styles allow defining families according to the degree of warmth and strictness ( Maccoby & Martin, 1983 ).…”

Analyzing when parental warmth but without parental strictness leads to more adolescent empathy and self-concept: Evidence from Spanish homes

“…It is important to note that there are different processes within and without the family that could affect the adolescent competence. For example, other family process such as marital satisfaction ( Chis et al, 2022 ), parenting stress ( Gomez-Ortiz et al, 2022 ), family functioning ( Yeung, 2021 ) family climate ( Hernandez-Serrano et al, 2021 ) and the predisposition to have more children ( Gomez-Ortiz and Sanchez-Sanchez, 2022 ). The same is true for other influences not directly related to the family, for example, the individual child characteristics such as emotional intelligence ( Cabello et al, 2021 ) or the cultural context ( Sacca et al, 2021 ) or the historical time (e.g., digitalization; Hung, 2022 ).…”

Is the Predisposition to Have More Children Beneficial among Parents with Only One Child? Evidence from Spanish Parents

“…This is paramount, given that both factors have shown the greatest predictive potential on the predisposition to increase family size. Promoting the life satisfaction of parents in dual-earner families starts by ensuring that personal and working conditions facilitate an appropriate work-life balance to mitigate general stress levels and those arising from the parental role [79,92]. Initiatives include increasing flexible working, introducing support measures to ensure childcare until children enter compulsory education (e.g., a network of affordable nursery schools) and satisfactory solutions to medical and other unforeseen needs.…”

“…The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) was adapted into Spanish by Oronoz et al [71] and validated by Gómez-Ortizet al [92]. This scale measures levels of perceived parental stress (e.g., I find it difficult to balance different responsibilities because of my children) and parental rewards (e.g., I am satisfied as a parent) using 12 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).…”