Coordination difficulties in preschool-aged children are associated with maternal parenting stress: A community-based cross-sectional study.
Even mild motor coordination issues in preschoolers measurably raise maternal stress—screen for it and offer parent support early.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Takahashi et al. (2017) asked mothers of preschoolers to fill out checklists. The forms asked about kids’ motor skills, attention, and social quirks. They also asked how stressed the moms felt.
The sample came from regular preschools, not clinics. Some kids had no diagnosis, some had mixed issues. The team looked at whether small motor problems alone raised mom stress.
What they found
Kids with clumsy movement, ADHD traits, or ASD traits each made moms report more stress. The link stayed even when the other two issues were absent.
In plain words, mild coordination trouble still weighed on parents. You do not need a full diagnosis to see the family strain.
How this fits with other research
Giovagnoli et al. (2015) showed the same age group and the same stress outcome. They found behavior problems, not autism labels, drove stress. Michio adds that even below-diagnosis motor slips count as “behavior problems” for moms.
Katz et al. (2003) tracked families for a year. Kids with clear delays kept high stress stable. Michio’s cross-sectional picture lines up: early struggles start the stress cycle sooner.
Stevens et al. (2018) used heart-rate data. More ASD traits raised moms’ physical stress beyond what surveys caught. Michio used only surveys, so the true stress effect is probably larger than their paper shows.
Why it matters
You can spot at-risk families before a full evaluation. Add a quick motor checklist to your intake. When you see clumsy kids, offer parent support right away, not after months of red tape. A short gross-motor program or parent coffee hour may lower stress before it snowballs.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Hand the mom of a clumsy preschooler a one-page motor-skills resource list and invite her to your next parent support group.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Although coordination difficulties are sometimes observed even in children in the general population, no empirical studies have examined the impact of these difficulties on parenting stress. AIMS: The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship between coordination difficulties and parenting stress in a community-based sample of preschool-aged children and their mothers. METHODS: The study included 1691 families. Mothers with 4- or 5-year-old children completed questionnaires about parenting stress and children's coordination difficulties, as well as traits associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). RESULTS: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that coordination difficulties, and ADHD and ASD traits were each independent predictors of parenting stress. Among the significant predictive factors, impaired general coordination, as well as hyperactivity-impulsivity, showed a strong impact on parenting stress. In addition, a gender difference was observed in the manner in which coordination difficulties influenced parenting stress. CONCLUSIONS: Coordination difficulties in preschool-aged children in the general population increased maternal parenting stress (as did ADHD and ASD traits). This highlights the need to provide support for mothers who have children with coordination difficulties, even when there is no clinical diagnosis.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.08.002