Parenting stress and child behaviour problems among parents with intellectual disabilities: the buffering role of resources.
Social support, not money, shields parents with ID from stress when kids act out.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents with intellectual disabilities about their stress and their child’s behavior. They also asked how big their support network was and how much money they had.
The survey looked at whether support or money softened the link between child problems and parent stress.
What they found
When kids acted out more, parents felt more child-related stress. More friends, relatives, and helpers cut that stress. Extra money did not help.
How this fits with other research
Zaidman-Zait et al. (2018) saw the same pattern in autism families: low resources meant high stress and more child problems. The 2015 study extends that link to parents who themselves have ID.
Cramm et al. (2009) also used a survey in the ID world. They found support buffered staff burnout, much like it buffered parent stress here.
Clifford et al. (2013) showed parents keep using support groups when they see real-life help. Together these papers say: build social ties, not just handouts.
Why it matters
You can’t fix parent stress by adding cash alone. Link families to respite providers, parent groups, and community centers. Map each family’s network in your intake. If the circle is small, make adding one new support a goal in the behavior plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Parents with intellectual disabilities (ID) are at risk for high levels of parenting stress. The present study evaluated resources, including parental adaptive functioning, financial resources and access to a support network, as moderators of the association between child behaviour problems and parenting stress. METHOD: A total of 134 parents with ID and their children (ages 1-7 years) were recruited from 10 Dutch care organisations. Questionnaires were administered to the parents to obtain information on parenting stress in the parent and child domain, financial resources and their support network. Teachers and care workers reported on child behaviour problems and parental adaptive functioning, respectively. RESULTS: Parents experienced more stress with regard to their children than towards their own functioning and situation. Parenting stress was less in parents who were not experiencing financial hardship. Child behaviour problems were associated with high child-related parenting stress, not parent-related parenting stress. Large support networks decreased the association between child behaviour problems and child-related parenting stress. Financial resources did not significantly moderate the association. CONCLUSIONS: Parenting stress among parents with ID is focused on problems with the child, especially when little social support is available.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2015 · doi:10.1111/jir.12170