Relationship of Parental Stress Levels and Selected Child Cognitive Processes of Grade Two Students

Abstract

Parents experience various stressors as they perform their roles in the family and these may influence child development. The study aimed to determine the relationship of parenting stress levels on selected cognitive processes of Grade Two students in public and private schools. Parent-respondents accomplished a questionnaire to gather socio-demographic data and parental stress levels while three psychometric tests were used to assess visual immediate memory, learning, and working memory of the Grade Two students. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Findings show that 62% of the parents had low parental stress levels. More than half of the students had high scores for visual immediate memory, more than three-fourths were in the high range for learning, and more than half was in the low range for working memory. Educational attainment, career, household income, income source, and primary caregiver role had significant relationships to parental stress levels. Parental stress levels did not significantly affect the cognitive processes and the relationships were generally negative. Parents should continuously practice effective stress management and coping responses to prevent stress spillover to their children.