The Relationship of the Parenting Stress with Child's Characteristics in Preschool Children

Park, Jangho; Chung, Seockhoon; Kim, Hyo Won

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of the parenting stress with their children's characteristics for typically developing preschool children.
METHODS
Parents of 38 preschool children (mean age : 4.4+/-0.7 years, 22 boys) completed the Korean Parenting Stress Index, the Korean Child Behavior Checklist, the Conners Parent and Teacher Rating Scale-Abbreviated form (CPRS and CTRS), the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory, the Children's Sleep Habit Questionnaire and the Social Responsiveness Scale. All 38 children performed the Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT).
RESULTS
The children's inattentive and hyperactive problems, as measured by the CBCL, CPRS and CAT, had positive correlation with parenting stress. Both internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems were associated with parenting stress. Of the child's temperament dimensions, Novelty Seeking and Harm Avoidance were positively correlated with parenting stress, but Persistence and Cooperativeness were negatively correlated with parenting stress. Sleep anxiety and other sleep characteristics showed a correlation with parenting stress. Social Motivation and Communication were also positively related to parenting stress.
CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that parenting stress could be related to the children's cognition, emotion, behavioral characteristics, sleep habits and social development. These results could assist in the development of interventions to improve the parental well-being in typically developing preschool children.