Objectives: This study aimed to: a) investigate children's adjustment and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and b) identify factors associated with, and predicting, adjustment and HRQL in children with ALL. Wallander and Varni's (1992) model of child adjustment was used as a theoretical framework. Design: A cross-sectional, within-subjects, questionnaire survey design was used. Method: Forty-four parents and 28 children participated. Parents completed questionnaires assessing child's adjustment and HRQL. A parenting stress measure, to collect data on likely predictors, and a semi-structured interview was administered to parents. Children aged 5-12 years completed a questionnaire assessing HRQL. Results: ALL was associated with poor adjustment and poor HRQL. Demographic, treatment status, child and parent characteristics and life stress were associated with adjustment and/or HRQL. Child characteristics (i.e. distractability, hyperactivity, adaptability), gender and parent characteristics were significant predictors of adjustment. Number of siblings, parental isolation and treatment status significantly predicted child-rated HRQL, while child characteristics (Le. acceptability, mood, adaptability), treatment status, age at diagnosis and life stress predicted parent-rated HRQL. Conclusion: Results suggest child characteristics, parent characteristics and treatment status, in particular, are important predictors of adjustment and HRQL in ALL. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research, methodological weaknesses and the possible role of cross informant variance. Implications for clinical research, the development of theory and future research are outlined.

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Externalizing behavior problems during early childhood are fairly common, with approximately 10% to 15% of young children exhibiting at least mild to moderate disruptive behaviors. Of great significance, disruptive behaviors persist beyond early childhood for a substantial number of children and are related to impaired functioning 111 for children and families. Parent discipline and parent stress are two variables that have been examined in relation to children's disruptive behaviors. While a significant body of research has documented the association between broad parental discipline strategies and behavior problems during early childhood, little research attention has been devoted to specific discipline techniques that may be related to disruptive behaviors. This study surveyed 30 parents of children with behavior problems and 57 parents of children without behavior problems about the discipline techniques they use with their preschool children. The relationships between the specific techniques parents use with their young children, parents' perceived stress level, and parent-reported child behavior problems were examined. Telling the child "no," corrective feedback, lecturing, and scolding were the discipline techniques parents reported using most often. The discipline techniques of corrective feedback and threats as well as parent stress emerged as significant predictors of disruptive behaviors. Conclusions and clinical implications of these findings are provided.

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Although parents in television are often depicted in negative patterns, little to no research has empirically examined the effect of viewing these depictions of parent efficacy and stress. The purpose of this study is to use experimental methods to assess the effect of viewing authoritative, authoritarian, and stereotypical depictions of parents in television on parental efficacy and parent stress. A sample of 122 parents of adolescents were randomly assigned to one of three condition groups: authoritarian, authoritative, and stereotypical. Each group watches a different clip from a television show, and then reported on their comparison of themselves against the parents depicted in the television clip. Parents then answered questions assessing parent efficacy and parent stress. Results revealed that there were no differences in levels of parent efficacy and parent stress based on condition, and a SEM analysis did not find that social comparison served as a meaningful mediator for the relationship between television depiction of parents (condition group) and either parent efficacy or parent stress. Parents did, however, engage in social comparison differently based on their condition group. These findings indicate that portrayals of parents in media do not affect parent efficacy or parent stress for parents of adolescents.

A diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can impact the entire family. Parents of children with ASD reportedly have greater stress levels, family conflict, financial concerns, and poor health habits than parents of neurotypical (NT) children. While many parent-focused interventions have been developed, these interventions focus on parent training and child behavior outcomes rather than the health and well-being of the parents. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of a 15-week family judo program on physical and psychosocial health in parents of children with ASD. A total of 18 parents of children with ASD participated in a weekly judo program, with each session lasting 45 minutes. Parents completed online surveys that asked about sociodemographic information and parental stress and wore wrist accelerometers that measured their physical activity and sleep quality. Paired samples t-tests were used to examine parental stress, physical activity, and sleep quality differences in parents of children with ASD pre- and post-judo program. Both a decrease in parental stress (47.77 vs. 41.61, p High-stress levels can also negatively impact physical health and have been linked to poor sleep and low physical activity levels. This is particularly concerning as research suggests that parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders already report worse sleep quality and lower levels of physical activity than parents of NT children. Furthermore, the treatment of sleep disorders in children with ASD has been related to reductions in parental stress. Additionally, child engagement in health behaviors has been correlated with parent behaviors. The majority of these studies, however, have utilized self-report measures of sleep and physical activity, which are prone to bias. Furthermore, while there are several components that make up sleep quality, the majority of studies have primarily focused on sleep duration rather than other aspects of sleep, such as sleep efficiency. Parental stress can also spill over into the parent-child relationship, resulting in diminished communication quality and decreased optimism about the future. Furthermore, evidence suggests a bidirectional relationship exists between parent/caregiver stress and child ASD symptoms. In other words, increased stress levels of the parent/caregiver may exacerbate the child's ASD symptoms, further worsening parent/caregiver stress. The immediate need for interventions to ease parents' stress and improve the quality of life for both parents and children is apparent. Physical activity has been deemed an intervention to reduce stress and is associated with improved well-being and mental health for both neurotypical and ASD populations. Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of physical activity interventions incorporating mind-body interaction, such as yoga or martial arts, for children with ASD. Martial arts training, such as judo, benefits participants and their families by encompassing mindfulness, balance, strength, and coordination, emphasizing social interaction. Despite the increasing prevalence of ASD, the reported stress on families of children with ASD, and the negative effects of parent stress on both parents and their children with ASD, there are no studies that have examined the benefits of a family-based, mind-body physical activity program on stress and health behaviors in parents of children with ASD. The current study will address this gap by examining the effects of a family judo intervention on parent stress and sleep patterns of parents of children with ASD. There is a significant decrease in parent-reported stress post-judo program. Parents also have increased levels of physical activity. Finally, we see parents reporting decreased stress and improved self-confidence with their children during the semi-structured interviews at the end of the program. These findings may be used to explore further whether a family judo program may lead to better parent and family outcomes, such as increased parental efficacy, improved parent-child bonding, and strengthened family resiliency.

The purpose of this study is to explore empowerment in Parent‑Child Interaction therapy (PCIT). Research has shown that attachment issues and child maltreatment are serious social problems that may lead to risks of child abuse and children developing mental illnesses. Interventions, like PCIT have shown to decrease these risks by improving the parent‑child interactions by enhancing parent skill levels and by decreasing parent stress levels and child behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine whether enhancing parent skills and decreasing parent stress levels would therefore increase parent empowerment. This study utilized a quantitative method to examine potential growth in parent empowerment. The current study consisted of 20 cases in which parents completed PCIT and had pre- and post- Dyadic parent‑child interaction coding system (DPICS) and Parent Stress Index (PSI) scores. Results indicated that PCIT enhanced parent skills but did not decrease stress levels as first hypothesized. Therefore, enhanced skills and decreased stress levels were found to not be a sufficient measure of parent empowerment. The PCIT literature has shown that PCIT successfully enhances parent skills, which in turn has shown to decrease the risk of child abuse. It is recommended that individual environmental factors and life stressors be considered in addition to the parents participating in PCIT to better enhance parent empowerment.

This study was a nonexperimental correlational study that took a strengths-based approach and utilized family systems theories to examine parenting stress, as measured by the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, and posttraumatic growth (PTG), as measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and the relationship between the two constructs. The study was conducted with a national sample of 136 maternal caregivers of transition-age youth on the autism spectrum (ASD), ages 14 to 22 years, recruited through social media, flyers, and referrals. Participants were primarily biological mothers (83.9%), White (87.5%), and resided in the South (68.4%); the mean age of the adolescent with ASD was 17.16 years. Descriptive statistical findings showed that caregivers had normal levels of parenting stress and high levels of PTG. Results from one-sample t tests showed that the sample parenting stress mean score (M = 51) was similar to the population mean score of 50 while the sample PTG mean score (M = 56) was significantly higher than the population PTG mean score of 52.5. The third research question examined if parenting stress was significantly associated with PTG, controlling for pertinent covariates. Hierarchical multiple linear regression findings indicated that, after controlling for the place of residence, parenting stress was significantly associated with PTG: as parenting stress increased, PTG decreased. Parenting stress explained 7% of the variance in PTG, a small effect size. Findings from this study denote the positive aspects of parenting an adolescent with ASD. Results can inform the development of parent interventions aimed at reducing parenting stress and enhancing PTG.

Current research indicates that parents of children with developmental disabilities experience more parental stress than parents of typically developing children, yet most are able to successfully cope with the additional care giving demands. There has been little research however, on the role of the communication ability of children with developmental disabilities on parental stress. This study examined the effects of a parent-implemented language intervention on parental stress and its relation to parental perceptions of communication development in young toddlers (N = 59) and their parents. Results indicate that parent stress did not decrease significantly following language intervention. Parents’ perceptions about the severity of their child’s communication deficits partially mediated the relationship between expressive language at baseline and parent stress at post-intervention. In addition, exploratory results begin to support the idea that parents who are initially high in parent stress are able to decrease their overall parent stress following language intervention.