This study examined the correlations between marital satisfaction (MS) and parental stress (PS). The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) was used to measure marital satisfaction. Parental stress was measured at the same time through the use of the Parent Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF). Twenty-seven traditionally married couples were recruited through the CCAMPIS Grant at Utah State University. Minimum criteria were that at least one of the couple needed to be eligible for Pell grants, registered full time at Utah State University, and have at least one child. This study found that MS and PS correlate in many ways, most significantly in the areas of parental distress and parent child interactions. We found that the variance in mothers’ MS was correlated with fathers’ MS and fathers’ interaction with the target child. Fathers’ MS was correlated with mothers’ MS. (69 pages)

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間健康科学) / 甲第18908号 / 人健博第22号 / 新制||人健||2(附属図書館) / 31859 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻 / (主査)教授 菅沼 信彦, 教授 鈴木 眞知子, 教授 中原 俊隆 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human Health Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

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The purpose of this study was to examine sibling relationships and caregiver burden in families raising children with disabilities (CWD). In order to determine (a) are there differences in caregiver burden according to parent gender and types of disability (b) are there differences in sibling relationships according to parent gender and type of disability and (c) is there a relationship between caregiver burden and sibling relationships after controlling for CWD and sibling gender and age, and type of disability? After IRB approval, 166 families living in the west and raising typically developing children (TDC) or a CWD participated. Disabilities included autism; Down syndrome (DS); other disabilities (OD), which included orthopedic impairment, intellectual disabilities, emotional or physical disabilities, health impairment; and multiple disabilities (MD), which included both physical and intellectual disabilities. After consenting, both parents independently completed the 28-item Schaefer Sibling Inventory of Behavior. This inventory ranked sibling behaviors in relation to kindness, involvement, empathy,and avoidance. Additionally a revised version of the Caregiver Strain Index (Robinson, 1983) measuring hassle and frequency of burden was utilized. Mothers completed a demographic questionnaire. Analyses included descriptive statistics, a MANOVA, correlations, and multiple regressions. Results indicated mothers perceived more burden than fathers for all disability types. Parents of children with autism perceived the highest burden, and mothers of TDC and fathers of children with DS perceived the least amount burden. Mothers rated female siblings higher in kindness, involvement, and empathy than male siblings. Whereas, fathers rated siblings of children with OD as least avoidant; as did mothers of children with DS. The highest sibling relationship scores were fathers' rating of empathy in families raising children with DS and mothers' rating of empathy in families raising children with MD. There was a positive relationships between caregiver burden for both parents and between both parent's ratings of sibling empathy, kindness, and involvement. A negative relationship was found between parents'ratings of avoidance and empathy, kindness and involvement. All caregiver burden variables were positively related to avoidance. Siblings may benefit from information regarding a child's disability in order to decrease avoidance behavior. It would also be important to provide interventions/information about respite care and other appropriate community resources to parents of children with autism in order to help decrease the burden they experience. Finally, parents of CWD may benefit from information regarding the effect their perception of burden has on relationships between the child and siblings.

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Intensive mothering (IM) is increasingly being recognized as a dominant parenting discourse. IM, conceptualized as hyper-parenting ideals that place pressure on mothers to cultivate children's cognitive development, has also been demonstrated to have consequences for mothers' mental wellbeing. On the other hand, IM attitudes also appear to contribute to parenting strategies that can be considered beneficial for young children's developmental growth. Considering these complexities, the present research was grounded in a theoretical framework guided by ecological and risk and resilience theories to test a holistic model which positioned IM as having indirect associations with children's executive functioning (EF) through two pathways: positive parenting strategies and parenting stress. Contrary to the theoretical purposes of IM-informed parenting, IM did not contribute to better cognitive outcomes in 3–5-year-old children through positive parenting. Instead, IM indirectly contributed to higher reports of dysfunctions in children's EF through the mechanism of parenting stress. Further, a conditional process model advanced previous understandings of IM by illuminating the processes through which cumulative risk strengthened the associations between these core constructs. Based on the results presented in this research, IM ideology is argued to be a context of risk for families with an accumulation of contextual risk factors. / Doctor of Philosophy / This research study investigated how modern parenting beliefs, called "intensive mothering", related to mothers' experiences with parenting stress, parenting behaviors that are considered good for young children, and young children's developmental outcomes. Intensive mothering involves beliefs such as "children needs should come before the parents' needs" and "it is the mothers' job to make sure young children are intellectually stimulated as much as possible." While these ideas would seem like good things for young children, this study found that having such high standards for mothers parenting expectations create more stress in mothers which, consequently, was related to worse developmental outcomes for young children. If the families who participated in this research had a few characteristics that make it harder for families to thrive, like limited financial resources, then they seemed to report even more parenting stress and even worse outcomes for their children. These findings suggest that holding such high parenting expectations may unintentionally hurt mothers and their children.

Findings related to the adjustment of typically-developing (TD) siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been inconsistent, but suggest that most function well over time. The current mixed methods study investigated the relationship between family factors, especially disruptions to family routines, and academic functioning of TD siblings. Measures of family functioning, parenting stress, and parenting daily hassles were collected from parents (n = 20); an additional 19 families also completed semi-structured interviews (total n = 39). Teacher reports on classroom functioning (n = 25) and report cards were also collected. All parent participants (92% Caucasian, 90% married, 79% college-educated) had a child with an ASD diagnosis (80% male, M age = 11.74) and a TD child (62% male, M age = 10.31 years). Seventy-two percent of TD siblings (n = 18) had scores above the mean on the Academic Performance Rating Scale (DuPaul, Rapport, and Perriello, 1991), and 91% (n = 32) had grade averages of B or higher. Ninety-six percent (n = 24) of TD siblings had scores within the normative range on the Learning Problems and School Problems scales of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2; Reynolds and Kamphaus, 2004). Daily hassles were not significantly correlated with any school measures for the TD siblings. Families with children with more severe ASD symptoms discussed greater frequencies of emotional outbursts in the child with ASD and missed social opportunities as a family. Families of children with externalizing behaviors may particularly benefit from targeted support. / Ph. D.

Research suggested that the economic and parenting stress experienced by mothers and fathers are important factors in predicting individually children's emotional and behavioral functioning. In a time of economic recession, understanding the mechanisms (e.g., mediators) that may be active in explaining this relationship may prove important. Therefore, this study examined the relationships among the economic and parenting stress experienced by mothers and fathers, their parenting behaviors, and their ratings of their young children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Thirty-three parents who have children ranging in age from 2- to 6-years and who are living in the greater Orlando area completed measures regarding the variables of interest for this study. Results of this study indicated that parenting stress predicts significantly young children's internalizing, externalizing, and total problems; however, economic variables do not predict significantly young children's internalizing, externalizing, and total problem behaviors. This study emphasized the importance of research examining the relationships among economic and parenting stress, parenting behaviors, and the emotional and behavioral functioning experienced by young children in order to ensure better outcomes for families in a time of economic recession.

The present study examined the efficacy of two parent training programs in reducing perceived parental stress in a sample of Spanish speaking migrant farmworkers of Hispanic origin. Sixty-eight Spanish-speaking mothers, referred for parenting classes because one of their children was experiencing behavioral or emotional difficulties, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: (1) 1-2-3 Magic, a behaviorally-based program; (2) Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP), an Adlerian-based program; (3) attention-placebo condition; and, (4) wait-list control group. All treatment conditions were presented in Spanish, and offered at convenient times and locations for participants. Parental stress was measured with the Spanish version of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), using the Total Stress Score, and the three subscale scores: Parental Distress Score, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction Score, and Difficult Child Score. Assessments were completed at pretest, posttest, and at a three-month follow-up. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance on the dependent measures revealed significant differences for groups across the three assessment periods. Subsequent analyses indicated that the behaviorally-based program produced significantly greater reductions on the Total Stress Score and Parental Distress Score at posttest and follow-up than the Adlerian program, the attention-placebo group, and the wait-list group. The behaviorally-based program was also more effective in reducing parent-child dysfunctional interaction than the attention-placebo group at posttest and follow-up, and the wait-list control group at follow-up, but not in comparison to the Adlerian program. These results lend support for behaviorally-based parent training in reducing perceived parental stress in this migrant farmworker population. To ensure treatment integrity, a parent trainer validity check was used in which expert parent educators rated randomly selected videotaped segments of each parent training session on five criteria. Statistical analysis of treatment validity revealed no significant differences in mean scores of expert raters across parenting groups, suggesting that the parent trainer behaved consistently on the criteria across all treatment conditions. The results are also discussed in relation to the literature on parent training. In addition, the limitations of the present study, as well as future directions for research are discussed.