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Background: Parental stress experienced in the context of caring for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in preschool is significant and has been poorly studied; studies tend to focus on more advanced ages of children where parental symptomatology has become chronic. The current study sought to provide new empirical evidence on factors associated with parental stress. Methods: An exhaustive search was conducted in four academic databases: CINAHL Complete, Medline Complete, Web of Science (WoS), and Scopus, limiting the articles to those published between 2017 and 2023. Results: The sample obtained consisted of 24 selected articles, which were produced in 11 countries, and all were in English. In terms of content, the topics addressed were the manifestation of parental stress, factors of the child with ASD and their relationship with parental stress, factors of parents of children with ASD, family factors of parents of children with ASD, social factors of parents of children with ASD, parental stress and access to formal care services, and parental stress and specialized interventions. Conclusions: It is possible to affirm that research reports indicate that the general level of stress among parents of children with ASD is compared to their reference groups, both in relation to child-related stress and other stressors. The variables that affect parental stress exhibit a reciprocal influence among them, so interventions aimed at early childhood should incorporate both the children and their parental figures. This is in consideration of the impact that stress has on the mental health of parents, establishing that parents with better health have early access to support services during the early years of parenting, as well as in later years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article aims to expand the knowledge about parental stress of the main caregivers of people with ASD in Uruguay. A cross-sectional study was carried out in which the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Survey and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were applied. 106 main caregivers participated, mostly mothers (87.4%), who reported high levels of stress. Depressive symptomatology was associated with the global level of parental stress and parental distress. An inverse relationship was found between family stress and family quality of life (QOLF); reported a satisfactory level of QOLF with low levels of emotional wellbeing. Inverse relationships were found between family interaction and parental role with the dysfunctional parent-child interaction factor. The results suggest integrating assessments on parental stress in interventions with people with ASD, considering the impact of emotional well-being on the quality of family life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducción. Hoy en día existe una mayor conciencia de las desigualdades presentes en la sociedad, lo que ha llevado a ampliar el concepto de pobreza tradicional, y con ello, a la generación de nuevas y más integrales formas de medición de la misma, como lo es la medición de pobreza multidimensional. No obstante, a pesar de los avances que esto ha significado, la propuesta deja fuera aspectos relacionales importantes que son necesarios de considerar por los graves efectos de la pobreza en la vida de las personas, en especial de niños y niñas, provocados en parte, por el estrés crónico que la misma tiene el potencial de generar en las figuras cuidadoras. A razón de lo anterior, esta investigación se propuso establecer la relación existente entre el estrato socioeconómico, como medida tradicional de medición, y de la pobreza multidimensional, con el estrés parental. Metodología. Estudio cuantitativo descriptivo de corte transversal con una muestra de madres y padres chilenos (n=180), seleccionados por medio de un muestreo no probabilístico por cuotas, que respondieron preguntas sobre su situación socioeconómica y presencia o ausencia de carencias vinculadas a la medición de pobreza multidimensional, junto a la escala Parental Stress Index en su versión reducida (PSI-SF). Resultados. Los resultados de las correlaciones y regresiones lineales múltiples realizadas, mostraron que en la medida que aumenta el porcentaje de pobreza multidimensional, tiende a aumentar el estrés parental. Cuando la pobreza multidimensional está en interacción con el género, tipo de hogar y número de hijos y/o hijas, el modelo aumenta su bondad de ajuste logrando predecir un mayor porcentaje del puntaje de estrés parental. Al aumentar el porcentaje de pobreza multidimensional, quienes presentan un puntaje más elevado de estrés parental son las participantes de género femenino que no viven con sus hijos y/o hijas y que tienen tres hijos y/o hijas, seguido de quienes son de género femenino, que viven en hogares extensos biparentales y que tienen tres hijos y/o hijas. El efecto de un elevado porcentaje de pobreza multidimensional sobre el estrés parental es mayor en las entrevistadas que presentan como característica ser de género femenino, pertenecientes a un hogar biparental extenso y que tienen tres hijos y/o hijas. Discusión. Se discuten los resultados en torno a la importancia de los hallazgos y la relación de estos en base a otra evidencia científica disponible. Conclusión. Se aprecia que la relación de la pobreza multidimensional con estrés parental es más extendida que la de estrato socioeconómico, y un papel importante en la explicación de la misma tiene la presencia de otras variables sociodemográficas, especialmente tipo de hogar y número de hijos y/o hijas.

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo ampliar el conocimiento sobre el estrés parental de los cuidadores principales de personas con TEA en Uruguay. Se realizó un estudio transversal en el que se aplicaron el Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, la Beach Center Family Quality of Life Survey y el Beck Depression Inventory‐II. Participaron 106 cuidadores principales, en su mayoría madres (87,4 %), que informaron altos niveles de estrés. La sintomatología depresiva estuvo asociada con el nivel global de estrés y malestar parentales. Se encontró una relación inversa entre estrés familiar y calidad de vida familiar (CDVF); informaron un nivel satisfactorio de CDVF con bajos niveles de bienestar emocional. Se encontraron relaciones inversas entre interacción familiar y rol parental con el factor de interacción disfuncional padres-hijos. Los resultados sugieren integrar evaluaciones sobre el estrés parental a las intervenciones con personas dentro del TEA considerando el impacto del bienestar emocional en la calidad de vida familiar.

Background: Problems of behaviour, communication, and social interaction associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders can overwhelm parents. Disturbances in parents' psychological well-being (anxiety, depression) affect adherence to treatment, making it less effective. There is a need to investigate how to increase psychological wellbeing in parents of children with autism. Method: An 8-week brief training programme using the Mindfulness Parenting (MP) intervention was applied to fourteen parents (6 couples and two mothers). Participants were assigned to one of two groups, both groups received the same treatment but at two different time points. Measures of anxiety (SCAARED), parental stress (PSI-4), autism severity level (AIM) and mindfulness awareness (FFMQ), were assessed. Results: Analysis indicates that MP training increased mindfulness awareness, increasing non-judgment and reactivity, and consequently, reduced anxiety (parental, general, social), improving parent-child interaction. This improvement did not influence parents' perception of the severity of the disorder. Conclusions: The small number of participants precludes generalisation of the results. More clinical trials are needed to demonstrate the usefulness of including these programmes in early intervention services, as well as profiles of parents who may potentially benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Co-parenting is situated as a central construct in the evaluation of parental competencies, however, there is little evidence on standardized instruments for its measurement. This study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of the adapted version of the Coparental Relationship Scale (CRS) by Feinberg, Brown and Kan (2012) for the Chilean context. A total of 940 fathers and mothers, between 17 and 68 years old, belonging to three macro-zones of Chile, and mostly Chilean, participated. The results referring to the structure evaluated by exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA),suggest a three-dimensional structure, contrary to the original four-factor model. At the reliability level, optimal values ranging from .86 to .96 were found for the different dimensions. Moderate, significant, and theoretically expected values were observed among the dimensions when evaluating the relationships with parental stress. The implications associated with the use of the instrument in the Chilean context are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective. Environmental risk factors are associated with a lower capacity to cope with parenting, generating greater stress in the education of children. When faced with social risk factors, mothers of children with special educational needs tend to be more vulnerable to stress. The main aim of this study was to analyse variables associated to the stress perceived by parents of children with early care needs (socio-environmental vulnerability and child's diagnosis). Method. Four hundred and six parents (233 mothers and 173 fathers) of 239 children with early care (EC) and education needs collaborated in this research. Results. Situations of environmental vulnerability caused high levels of stress in the parents. The experience of stressful events during pregnancy conditioned the later maternal anxiety. A significant positive linear correlation was found between the results achieved in the Overprotective educational style and parental stress. Conclusions. Most interventions in Early Childhood Care and Development Centres focus on the needs of children, leaving parents out of the clinical intervention. This approach should be shifting towards a family-centred model, which will work more effectively and improve the quality of life of the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal and paternal involvement are an important predictor of child development. In the current study, we describe the cognitive and affective involvement of parents with their three-year-old children in a sample of 115 Chilean parents of medium/low socioeconomic status. Additionally, we analysed differences in the level of involvement of mothers and fathers and examined the relationship between depressive symptoms, parental stress, number of children, level of parental education, gender of the child and parental involvement. We performed a descriptive, correlational and regression analysis. The results revealed that mothers and fathers report higher levels of affective than cognitive involvement. When comparing mothers and fathers, mothers reported higher levels of cognitive and affective involvement. Paternal stress and depressive symptoms were negatively associated with cognitive and affective involvement with their children. In mothers, more children and stress were associated with lower levels of cognitive involvement with their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this systematic review was to analyze scientific articles about the Parental Stress (PS) construct associated with people in international migration processes. Searches were carried out in seven databases: Scopus, Web of Science, PsycInfo, VHL Portal, MEDLINE/CINAHL, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, considering publications between 2012-2021. Initially, 2193 documents were found and after the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 21 articles were analyzed according their theoretical-methodological aspects and main Parental Stress results. The critical appraisal of the studies indicates high methodological quality of the articles, since most of them (n = 12) got from 10 to 12 points in the 12 scale-score evaluation criteria. There was a predominance of articles that investigated the relationship between PS and social support, acculturative guidelines, parent-child relationship, mental health of caregivers, and interventions to reduce PS in caregivers. We discuss the dimensions of social support as protective factors for families who are in international migration process. The evidences suggest that government policies and interventions are necessary to mitigate psychosocial impacts on these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Psicología Iztacala is the property of Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

El estrés parental se ve potenciado de acuerdo a la magnitud del problema que manifiestan sus hijos con autismo, sean estos físicos o psicológicos, y el tiempo que duran, la presente investigación tiene como objetivo determinar la relación entre la severidad de autismo de hijos menores de 12 años y niveles de depresión y estrés de sus madres y padres, el estudio se realizó en una muestra de 31 cuidadores de personas con Autismo del cantón Riobamba, provincia de Chimborazo. La investigación es descriptiva, correlacional, transversal y no experimental, tuvo una duración de 10 meses, a partir de octubre del 2018. Las técnicas de investigación fueron una encuesta sociodemográfica - socioeconómica y las escalas de escala de valoración del autismo (CARS), inventario para la depresión de Beck y forma breve del índice de estrés parental (PSI/SF). Entre los principales resultados se destaca un alto número de madres responsables del cuidado de sus hijos, con un nivel de instrucción superior o tercer nivel e ingresos económicos superiores al salario básico en su mayoría, todos los menores de 12 años tienen Autismo, la mayoría presenta autismo ligero, todas las madres/padres presentan un nivel de estrés medio. Finalmente se concluye que, sí existe relación entre el nivel de autismo que presentan los hijos menores de 12 años con respecto al nivel de estrés de sus madres/padres, lo que no ocurre con respecto al nivel de depresión; se destaca, por tanto, la importancia de formular directrices de atención psicológica e impulsar redes de apoyo social.

Copyright of Quaderns de Politiques Familiars. Revista de l'Institut d'Estudis Superiors de la Família is the property of Institut d Estudis Superiors de la Familia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Covid-19 context places children and their caregivers in a situation of uncertainty and a process of transition for an indefinite time. Even if the true extent of the effects of Covid-19 are largely unknown, it seems there are likely to be long term health, economic, developmental and social consequences. The risk of child maltreatment is increased in the global pandemic context due to challenges related to social disruptions and the connected multi-layer stressors. This article examines how Covid-19 related stressors affect family functioning and impact caregiving via parenting stress, thus heightening the risk of child maltreatment. Drawing from the family stress model, the review is based on the assumption that social disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic will generate parenting stress, placing children at the risk of maltreatment. The study describes the effects of the Coronavirus-induced stressors on the quality of parent-child relationship. An illustration of key family stress processes that can result in or modify the risk of child maltreatment is provided and psychoeducative and research implications are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The birth of a preterm child has a high family emotional cost. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of life of parents of children aged 5–7 years born prematurely (

Introduction. Literature shows that families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience risk factors related to high levels of stress, less social support, or less coping skills. These contextual family factors can be aggravated by the presence of behavioral and social problems in children with ADHD. Aims. The present study set out the following objectives: 1) To identify profiles of families of children with ADHD at school age according to contextual indicators and socio-emotional variables such as stress level, coping strategies and social support. 2) To evaluate the differences between groups established in different domains of behavioral and emotional difficulties. Method. Thirty-five children, between 7 and 11 years old, who had received a clinical diagnosis of ADHD participated in this study. A family risk index was determined from the information provided by the families on the educational level, professional situation, parental psychopathology and parental status. In addition, the level of parental stress, social support, coping skills and behavioral and emotional problems of the child were evaluated. Results. Hierarchical cluster analyses carried out determined the existence of two groups of families; one with “severe risk” and another one with “moderate-low risk”. The severe profile was associated with greater social problems in children. Specifically, more hyperactivity and problems with peers. Conclusions. Contextual and socio-emotional factors of families should be taken into account in the approach of behavioral problems that children with ADHD present.

The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) is one of the most commonly used measures of parenting stress both in clinical and research contexts. The PSI-SF is a 36-item, self-report measure with three subscales: Parental Distress (PD), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (PCDI), and Difficult Child (DC). The objective of this study was to analyse the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of PSI-SF. Two different samples (N = 309) of mothers with children under 8 years old participated in the study. The first sample comprised 203 mothers with difficulties managing their children's behaviour. The second sample comprised 106 mothers from the general population. Factor structure of the PSI-SF, convergent validity, and differences between groups were analysed. The expected three-factor structure was confirmed for both samples. Findings suggested that the total PSI-SF scale and the three subscales had adequate internal consistency and convergent validity. Differences between both samples, and between age and economic subgroups in the first sample were tested. The Spanish version of the PSI-SF can be considered an adequate measure of parenting stress in mothers of children under 8 years old with difficulties to manage their children's behaviour. Further studies with extended samples from the general population are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Panamerican Journal of Neuropsychology / Cuadernos de Neuropsicología is the property of Cuadernos de Neuropsicologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Foster children, mostly maltreated in their birth families, may be fostered by parents who know little about the impact of traumatic experiences. The present study investigated whether the training Caring for Children who Have Experienced Trauma for foster parents can break the negative circle of traumatic stress. The hypothesis was that improvement in parents' knowledge on trauma and mind-mindedness would be associated with a reduction of their parenting stress, children's post-traumatic stress symptoms, and behaviour problems. Forty-eight foster parents (nfemale = 35) participated in a pre-test (T1), post-test (T2), and follow-up (T3) assessment. Questionnaires on knowledge on trauma, parenting stress, child post-traumatic stress symptoms, the child's behaviour, and the evaluation of the training were administered. Parents' mind-mindedness was assessed using the describe-your-child interview. Foster parents highly appreciated the training, their knowledge on child trauma increased at T2 and this growth persisted at T3. The parents who gained most knowledge experienced a small decrease in parenting stress at T2. Although the general mind-mindedness did not significantly change, foster parents' mind-mindedness with positive valence substantially increased at T2 and T3, while their mind-mindedness with neutral valence decreased. Foster parents' report on child PTSS declined at T3 compared to T2, but not compared to T1. No changes were found in children's behaviour as reported by the foster parents. The proportion of foster children receiving trauma-focused treatment increased at T2 and T3. This study provides evidence that training in trauma-informed parenting can be effective in improving foster parents' knowledge on the impact of traumatic experiences and in increasing a positive mental representation of their foster child as well as in reducing children's post-traumatic symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyze the family characteristics that favor the positive development of adopted children, relationships between different family dimensions (adult attachment, reflexive function, stress and interactions) have been studied, trying to identify family typologies based on these characteristics Family members. Delving into all these issues in the “natural” context of adoption allows for a unique environment to address the effect of environmental variables before and after adoption. From this perspective, adoption is presented as a very valuable research context to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of families and child psychological adjustment. In this direction the objective of the present investigation is to develop a predictive model for the security in the attachment behaviors of the minors from different typologies of families and sociodemographic variables. The sample was formed by 98 Spanish families, 40 adoptive families and 58 non-adoptive families. The results showed that a positive view of the affective experience of the child was strongly related to a greater safety in the attachment behaviors of the children and that high levels of stress in the raising of the children was negatively associated with the security in the children. Attachment behaviors of minors. Conglomerate analysis showed that when fathers and mothers belonged to the second family typology, safety in children’s attachment behaviors increased. Future lines of research should continue to deepen the relationships established between parental reflexive function, parental stress and child attachment (behavioral and representational level).

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with potential influence over parent stress. Our research studies the differences between perceived stress by parents (PSP) with and without ADHD kids, and also analyses the best explanatory model of clinical, social, economic and academic variables associated to PSP. Method: Observational analytical investigation design of cases and controls, matched by sex and age. Consecutive sampling of 82 participants between 6 and 16 years old (41 from mental health services / 41 general population). ADHD clinic evaluation was conducted with NICHQ Vanderbilt Scale. Perceived stress by parents was evaluated using PSS (Perceived Stress Scale, Remor). Results: Parents with ADHD kids have higher levels of perceived stress (d = .532). The explanatory model which predicts PSP the best is made up of two variables: having ADHD kids and being separated or divorced. The best model does not include variables like kids learning disorders, behavior disorders or emotional disorders, neither parents unemployment, sex or age. Conclusions: Perceived stress by parents is related to ADHD and could be reduced with its treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to analyze the quality of life of primary caregivers of people with ASD. 50 caregivers of people with ASD aged between 2 and 35 years participated in this study. Besides the quality of life, coping strategies and parental stress were also evaluated. The results showed that (1) parental stress, coping strategies and quality of life were not significantly associated with the developmental stage of the person with ASD; (2) the quality of life in the psychological, social and environmental domains is worse in caregivers with levels of parental stress clinically significant; and (3) the quality of life in the psychological domain is better among those using more adaptive coping strategies, such as social support or positive reappraisal. On the contrary, the use of coping strategies such as aggressive reaction, avoidance or emotional difficulties are associated with a poorer quality of life in the psychological, social and environmental domains Keywords: quality of life, parental stress, coping, ASD.

El presente trabajo aborda dos objetivos: a) analizar las diferencias en el estrés de los padres de niños y adolescentes con TDAH con altas y bajas puntuaciones en factores de éxito relacionados con la resiliencia b) estudiar la relación entre estos factores de éxito y el nivel de satisfacción con la vida del niño en distintos dominios. Para ello, 46 familias cumplimentaron los cuestionarios de Evaluación de Atributos de Éxito, el dominio del padre del Parenting Stress Index y las Escalas de Satisfacción Vital. Los resultados indican diferencias estadísticamente significativas en el estrés de los padres de niños con TDAH y puntuaciones altas y bajas en autoconciencia, proactividad, perseverancia y establecimiento de metas. La satisfacción vital se asoció a los atributos de éxito. Se comentan las implicaciones para la investigación y para la práctica clínica de estos hallazgos.

The objectives of this study were: 1) Compare the perceived parental stress between a group of parents of children with ASD and a group of parents of children with typical development. The rest of the objectives are focused on the analysis of the ASD group. 2) Compare the perceived parental stress between the parents of the ASD children with language and the parents of the ASD children without language. 3) Analyze the relationship between the perceived parental stress and the child’s receptive linguistic skills. 4) Analyze the relationship between the perceived parental stress and the child’s expressive linguistic skills. The Parenting Stress Index scale (the child domain) was used to evaluate the parental stress. The main results obtained were: 1) Parental stress in the parents of ASD children was higher than in the parents of the children with typical development. 2) There was no significant difference on the perceived parental stress between the parents of ASD children with and without language. 3) Parental stress showed a statistically significant relation with some of the evaluated variables, both receptive and expressive language. Thus, the child’ limitations on language skills were linked to a higher parental stress in the child domain, particularly the one obtained in the Acceptability subscale, relative to the parental expectations about the child’s capacities. This result is discussed in the context of the importance that our culture gives to the achievement motivation and the possible connection of this with parental stress.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of parents’ stress level and their conceptions about the education of their children with developmental disorders based on the results obtained from the point of view of the recovery of the difficulties or disorders in Early Care Service. To accomplish this, 23 families (father and mother) completed the short version of CIP (Palacios, 1988) and the short version of the Parenting Stress Index (Solís &Abidin, 1995). Furthermore, these data were related to those regarding the intervention standards, the parents’ educational level, the timing in achieving the goals of the early care program, the classification and the severity of the disorder. The results show that the children’s recovery from the disorders is greatly related to lower levels of defensive response on the part of the parents associated with the level of perceived stress, as well as with modern conceptions of their children’s developmental process.

The family can be a protective/risk factor for violence. The study analyzes differences in family variables (parental stress, parental competence and parenting styles) among severe student victims, aggressors, cybervictims, and cyberaggressors (who have very frequently suffered or carried out bullying/cyberbullying behaviors in the past year) and those who have neither suffered nor carried out any aggressive behavior or only occasionally. Method: Participants were 1,993 students in the 5th-6th grade (9-13 years old). Results: Victims and aggressors of bullying had parents with higher levels of parental stress, who used more authoritarian educational styles (low affection, coercive discipline, high control), and more permissive practices (high affection/overprotection, low demand/control); parents of aggressors also had a lower level of parental competence. Cybervictims had parents with higher parental stress who used more permissive educational styles. Cyberaggressors had parents with a low level of parental competence. Conclusions: The family context is relevant for bullying/cyberbullying, but family variables have more influence on bullying than on cyberbullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal reports of 317 women were used to investigate the mediating effect of parental stress in the relationship between intimate partner violence and emotional-behavioral childhood adjustment (6 to 8 years old). Results showed that parental stress is a mediator in the relationship between intimate partner violence and children's problems related to emotional and behavioral adjustment. Intimate partner violence had a direct and indirect effect on childhood adjustment confirming that children of women who have experienced high levels of violence perpetrated by their partner are more prone to reporting more emotional and behavioral problems. Furthermore, we confirmed that intimate partner violence increases parental stress among women. As a consequence, women decrease gradually their maternal skills. Finally, through structural equation modeling, we confirmed that the stress resulting from family interactions affects directly the emotional development and behavior of children. Based on these results, any behavioral and emotional intervention with children must consider the parental level of stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt and investigate the psychometric properties of the Parental Stress Scale (PSS) for Brazilian- Portuguese. There were 304 participating parents, distributed in the same proportion by gender (mothers and fathers). Initially, we carried out stages of translation and investigation of the scale's content validity; then we conducted an empirical analysis with the translated PSS. The results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated a final structure for the PSS composed of 16 items divided into two subscales, a unifactorial model with internal consistency adequate for the total score. There was also evidence of concurrent validity of the PSS with the PSS-14 and the IPP. Finally, in this first psychometric study in Brazil, the PSS presented satisfactory psychometric properties, proving to be a valid and reliable instrument to measure parental stress in parents in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between higher and moderate parental stress scores and derived relations in parents and undergraduate students. A group comparison design with a pretest measure was used in this study. The sample size was divided in three different groups, thirteen parents with high scores on the Parental Stress Index (PSI) were assigned to one group, other thirteen parents with moderate scores on the PSI were assigned to a second group, and thirteen undergraduate students were assigned to a control group. Initially all participants were exposed to a video of a child exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Following this all participants were exposed to a conditional discrimination training A-B and A-C, one stimulus set A corresponded to nonsense figures, a second stimulus set B corresponded to children's disruptive behaviors, and the set C to positive parenting behaviors. Then mixed relations (A-B and AC) were trained followed by transitivity and equivalence tests. The results show that participants with high scores on the PSI exhibited low response accuracy and longer response latencies during derived relations compared to the control group and moderate stress. These results suggest that parents with high PSI scores, have greater difficulty in establishing new relations between stimuli, especially stimuli loaded with emotional value. These findings have implications at clinical level, specifically in relational flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to explore parenting stress in mothers of at-risk families as a predictor of psychological symptoms and to examine moderating effects with variables which are related to parenting stress. To accomplish these objectives 109 mothers receiving family preservation intervention were interviewed. Their average age was 35.55 years (DT= 7.25), they had at least one children and their level of risk was medium. Psychological symptoms (GHQ-28), parenting experience (PSI-SF, PSOC, PLOC) and coping strategies were assessed (COPE). Analyses showed that most of the mothers exceeded the clinical limit indicated by the GHQ-28 y PSI-SF. Significant relations were observed between psychological symptoms and poverty, stressful life events, parental locus of control and avoidance. Parenting stress was a relevant predictor of psychological symptoms, especially the parental distress scale. Parental satisfaction, problemfocused coping and avoidance moderate this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]