Article information

Authors: Richard R. Abidin^{[lower-alpha 1]}, Logan T. Smith^{[lower-alpha 2][lower-roman 1]} 

 , Hannah Kim^{[lower-alpha 3]}

This article is an unpublished pre-print undergoing public peer review organised by the WikiJournal of Medicine.

You can follow its progress through the peer review process at this tracking page.

First submitted: 4 Nov 2019
Reviewer comments

---

Author info:

1. ↑ University of Virginia
2. ↑ Duke University Medical Center
3. ↑ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

1. ↑ logan520@alumni.unc.edu

---

QID: Q99676829

---

Suggested (provisional) citation format:
Richard Abidin; Logan Smith; Hannah Kim, Parenting stress, Wikidata Q99676829

License: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction, provided the original author and source are credited.

Editors:

Mark Worthen

(handling editor) contact
Sheryl Taucer contact

Reviewers: (comments)

anonymous
Rachael Frush Holt

---

Abstract

Introduction

Parenting Stress relates to stressors that are a function of being in and executing the parenting role. Unlike many stressful situations and events, parenting stresses tend to be long term, repetitive, and have the potential to create chronic stress. Extensive cross cultural research has demonstrated that parenting stress is associated with parenting and child behaviors, a variety of parenting related cognitions, and the parent’s and child’s physiological states. Abidin has presented a non-exhaustive model and a measure that attempts to define the major components of parenting stress, and the impact of these stressors on parenting behavior and their child’s development.^[2][3][4][5] The model focuses on the most proximal variables related to the execution of the parenting role: the perceived behavioral characteristics of the child, the parent’s self-cognitions, and their perceptions of the familial and friend support available to them. The Parenting Stress Index (PSI)^[6], the most widely used measure of parenting stress, has shown associations with a wide range of parenting behaviors and child outcomes (see research reference list containing hundreds of published studies at this link). Cross cultural replications of the PSI factor structure, following translation, have been published using normative samples from a number of countries. Copies of these measures and their test manuals may be obtained from the respective publisher. For a review of the available parenting stress related evidence-based measures, see Holly's 2019 review.^[7]

The Nature of Parenting Stress

The construct of parenting stress builds on the seminal works of both Selye^[8] and Lazarus.^[9] Selye demonstrated that a physiological response occurred in the body by phenomenological events in a manner similar to that of physical environmental stimuli. Although not always maladaptive, the stress in the context of parenting is more likely to be maladaptive, especially when the stress is severe or chronic. Further, he demonstrated that, regardless of the sources of stress, the greater the number of stressors, the larger the physiological response of the body. That finding suggested that parenting stress would need to be understood and measured by considering multiple variables. Lazarus articulated the connection of perceptions to emotions, and subsequently to both the physiological response, and the likely behavioral responses of individuals. Parenting stress thus conceived is not simply a reaction to observable events but to the interpretations and other cognitions of the parent relative to the events. The Lazarus model suggests 4 stages of the stress reaction:

1. Recognition of an environmental demand,

2. The perception of the demand in terms of whether it is perceived as a threat,

3. Whether or not the individual believes they have the resources to cope with the event. This process is instantaneous, and is essentially unconscious response.

4. Based on stage 3, the nervous system responds and either relaxes or prepares to flee or fight.

Thus, the works of Selye and Lazarus provide conceptual frameworks for understanding the links between emotion perception, stress, and coping. For a review of the available evidence-based measures of parenting stress see Holly et al. (2019).^[7]

Overview of the Research on Parenting Stress

Kirby Deater-Deckard, in the volume Parenting Stress, presented the first comprehensive articulation of the research on parenting stress in relation to the characteristics of parents, the parent-child relationship, and parents' coping behaviors.^[10] Since Deater-Deckard’s work, there has been a rapid expansion of research documenting the linkage between parenting stress and a wide variety of important issues related to family functioning and child development and behavior. The documentation below provides a brief sampling to illustrate the breadth of impact that parenting stress has upon members of the core family system.

Observed Parenting Behavior

Parenting stress has been demonstrated to be predictive of abusive mother’s behavior towards their children during free play and task situations, parents’ verbal harshness, demanding and controlling behaviors, and parents' level of warmth and engagement with their child.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Child Development and Outcomes

Parents’ level of stress has been found to predictive of the development of problem behaviors in children, children’s aggressiveness, callous-unemotional traits in children, and children’s coping competence.^{[11][17][18][19][20]} Baroso et al. conducted a major review and meta-analysis of the parenting stress literature, which revealed that parenting stress is a major factor in relation to parents coping with their children's behavior.^[21]

Child Academic Functioning

Children whose parents exhibit high levels of parenting stress display difficulties in executive functioning, lower levels of academic competence, and other behavioral problems in school.^{[22][23][24][21]}

Physical Health and Physiological Issues

Parenting stress has been associated with elevated cortisol and oxytocin levels both in parents and their children.^[22][25][24] These are well established chemical markers of an individual’s mental and physical health. Mothers who exhibit high levels of parenting stress also display a failure to care for their own health needs while also over utilizing pediatric healthcare services for their children.^[21][26] Parenting stress as also been associated with parental brain functioning, epigenetic DNA methylation, and both parent-child behavioral synchrony and brain synchrony.^[27][28][29]

Compliance with Medical and Psychological Treatment

Parents with elevated stress levels have significantly higher non-compliance rates both for their own treatment and the medically necessary care of their children. They also are early terminators of psychological treatments for their children.^[30][31][32]

The Parenting Partner Relationship

The quality of the parents' relationship is a central variable in terms of child outcomes. The level of parenting stress experienced by parenting partners has been shown to be associated with the child's physical and mental health.^[33][34][35]

Future Directions

This article in limited in that it serves only as a brief review and does not present an analytical approach to the concept of parenting stress. Future work should build on this review by incorporating statistical techniques to provide a quantitatively focused review of the topic. This could include multi-group confirmatory factor analyses and differential item functioning to examine the extent to which parenting stress is consistent across societies and settings, as well as meta-analyses of the growing literature about associations with various aspects of parent and youth functioning.

Summary

Parenting stress as a construct is a relatively young idea in psychology, but research on it has grown rapidly. There are several instruments available that measure aspects of parenting stress with good reliability and validity across a wide range of settings and samples. Parenting stress appears associated with a wide range of correlates and outcomes in both youths and the parents, adding importance to it as a way of thinking about family functioning.

Additional information

References