Cognitive coping strategies and stress in parents of children with Down syndrome: a prospective study.
Train parents to reappraise daily setbacks and to catch catastrophizing thoughts; doing so lowers their stress one year later.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 56 moms and dads of kids with Down syndrome to fill out two surveys one year apart.
Parents listed the ways they cope with stress and rated how much stress they felt raising their child.
What they found
Moms and dads who used positive reappraisal (finding the good in tough moments) felt less stressed a year later.
Parents who used acceptance or catastrophizing (expecting the worst) felt more stressed the next year.
How this fits with other research
Gaynor et al. (2008) saw the same thing a year earlier: moms of kids with ID who accepted hard feelings had lower stress later.
Dixon (2014) later showed cognitive reframing helped moms of kids with ASD, matching the positive-reappraisal benefit here.
Lanfranchi et al. (2012) adds a twist: Down-syndrome parents actually report the lowest stress among four syndromes, so teaching reappraisal may give an extra buffer to an already resilient group.
Why it matters
You can teach parents to reframe daily hassles ("He spilled juice—great chance to practice cleaning"). In the same breath, coach them to spot catastrophizing ("This means he’ll never live on his own") and swap it for a realistic next step. A quick five-minute reappraisal drill during parent training could cut their stress for months.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the cross-sectional and prospective relationships between cognitive coping strategies and parental stress in parents of children with Down syndrome. A total of 621 participants filled out questionnaires, including the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire to measure cognitive coping and the Nijmeegse Ouderlijke Stress Index-Korte Versie (A. J. L. L. De Brock, A. A. Vermulst, J. R. M. Gerris, & R. R. Abidin, 1992) to measure parental stress. After 8 months, stress was measured again. Cross-sectionally, using acceptance, rumination, positive refocusing, refocusing on planning, and catastrophizing to a greater extent was related to more stress, whereas using positive reappraisal more often was related to less stress. Prospectively, acceptance and catastrophizing were related to more stress, whereas positive reappraisal was related to less stress. Implications for future research and prevention and intervention activities are discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-47.4.295