Predictors of Parental Stress in Mothers of Young Children With Hearing Loss

Abstract

This study examined parental stress in 184 hearing mothers of young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Stress levels were measured in three domains using the short-form of the Parental Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1995). Mothers in this study demonstrated significantly less parental distress on the PSI than a normative, hearing group, although this difference was quite small. Differences between the hearing and hearing loss samples did not reach conventional levels of significance for the Dysfunctional Parent-Child Interactions or the Difficult Child subscales. An examination of potential predictors of maternal stress revealed that mothers who perceived their daily hassles as more intense also obtained higher stress ratings on all three subscales. Additional predictors of parental distress were frequency of hassles, social support, and annual family income. Increased stress on the Dysfunctional Parent-Child Interaction subscale was predicted by children who had disabilities in addition to hearing loss, more delayed language relative to their chronological age, and less severe degrees of hearing loss. No additional, significant predictors were obtained for the Difficult Child subscale. When all measured variables were controlled for, characteristics that did not predict maternal stress on any of the three subscales included the child's gender, ethnicity, age of identification, mode of communication used, maternal education, and months between age of identification and child age at the time of observation.

Everyday problems and stress faced by parents of children with cochlear implants.

“…This finding is consistent with previous studies that have reported increased parental stress associated with lower child language ability, both among parents of deaf children in general (Chaffee, Cunningham, Secord-Gilbert, Elbard, & Richards, 1990;Pipp-Siegel et al, 2002) and among mothers of a child with an implant in particular (Zaidman-Zait & Most, 2005).…”

“…Similar correlations also emerged in previous studies of stress among parents of children with hearing loss (e.g., Pipp-Siegel et al, 2002), which supported the decision to analyze parental stress subscales separately. In the current study, 16.1% (n ϭ 5) of parents scored at or above the clinical cutoff for the total PSI/SF score.…”

“…In comparison with previous studies examining parental stress level of parents of children who are deaf, not specifically children with CIs, this figure was lower than that reported by Meadow-Orlans (1994) and higher than those reported by Pipp-Siegel et al (2002) and Lederberg and Golbach (2002). The relatively late age of the children at diagnosis (due to the lack of early hearing detection and intervention in British Columbia at the time of the study) may affect parental stress scores (Pipp-Siegel et al, 2002). The percentage of parents who scored at or above the clinical cutoff for each subscale was as follows: Parental Distress, 22.6% (n ϭ 7); Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction, 9.7% (n ϭ 3); and Difficult Child, 16.1% (n ϭ 5).…”

“…In previous studies, a significant positive association between stress and child age has also been reported (Konstantareas & Lampropoulou, 1995;Lederberg & Golbach, 2002;Pipp-Siegel et al, 2002). One possible explanation is that children who were diagnosed late and who received an implant at an older age demonstrated less satisfactory speech and language outcomes, which led to increasing difficulties in establishing effective interactions with their parents.…”

The language development of a deaf child with a cochlear implant

“…(Weisel et al, 2007: 55) Moreover, research on the relationship between CI and stress seems to suggest that the level of development in communicative behaviour on the child's part is related to the degree of stress for the parents (Weisel et al, 2007;Incesulu et al, 2003;Knussen & Sloper, 1992). This is especially the case when the child's development is slower than expected after implantation (Nicholas & Geers, 2003;Pipp-Siegel et al, 2002). The challenge of satisfactory communication also largely defines the implanted child's language development.…”