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The Relationship between Parenting Stress and Maternal Responsiveness among Mothers of Children with Developmental Problems

Mahoney, Frida Perales

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Social Welfare.
This study explored the relationship between parenting stress and mother-childinteraction style among mothers of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and developmental disabilities (DD) who participated in a Relationship Focused (RF) intervention over a period of one year. Associations between children's diagnoses, severity, parenting stress, and mother-child interaction style were analyzed by secondary data analysis. Correlation and hierarchical regression statistical procedures were used with two groups of mothers of 44 children, ages 11-54 months who completed pre and post treatment group only. Results indicated that mothers of children with PDD experienced more parenting stress than mothers of children with DD. Also, the severity of children's disabilities was a significant predictor of the level of parenting stress mothers reported. In addition, children's diagnosis of PDD and parent-child interaction style prior to intervention predicted change in the style of parent-child interactions at post treatment, and parenting stress prior to intervention was a statistically significant predictor of parenting stress after intervention. Findings have two major implications for early intervention practice. First, they confirmed the generally reported results that mothers of children with PDD experience extremely high levels of parenting stress which is even higher than the levels of parenting stress reported by mothers of children with other types of disabilities. Second, even when parents are experiencing high levels of parenting stress, this does not appear to impede their ability to participate in a RF intervention where they are ask to modify their routine interactions with their children.
Elizabeth Tracy, PhD (Committee Chair)
Claudia Coulton, PhD (Committee Member)
Jerry Floersch, PhD (Committee Member)
Patricia Underwood, PhD (Committee Member)
185 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mahoney, F. P. (2009). The Relationship between Parenting Stress and Maternal Responsiveness among Mothers of Children with Developmental Problems [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1238097387

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mahoney, Frida. The Relationship between Parenting Stress and Maternal Responsiveness among Mothers of Children with Developmental Problems. 2009. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1238097387.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mahoney, Frida. "The Relationship between Parenting Stress and Maternal Responsiveness among Mothers of Children with Developmental Problems." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1238097387

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)