Moderating parenting stress in ethnic minority parents of children with developmental delays

ABSTRACT

Objective: We explored the relationship between acculturation and parenting stress among parents of children with developmental delays (DD) and investigated family support as a potential moderator.

Methods: Participants included 99 parents of young children with DD. Standardized measures were used to evaluate the variables of interest and a multiple linear regression analysis was employed to test the moderation effect.

Results: Our results indicated that the relationship between acculturation and parenting stress depended on the level of family support. More specifically, low levels of acculturation were associated with increased parenting stress at high levels of family support but not low levels of family support.

Conclusions: Minority parents of children with DDs may be at risk for especially high levels of parenting stress due to the additive stress of adapting to a new culture and parenting a child with special needs. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Developmental delays
• acculturation
• family support
• ethnic diversity
• parenting stress

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Susanna Luu, M.A. is a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at Loma Linda University. She has worked with Dr Neece on the Mindful Awareness and Parenting Stress (MAPS) Project for five years and was the lead author on the current study. Her research interests are in developmental psychology, resiliency, and cultural issues within mental health. Her career goals are to continue conducting research on resiliency among families at risk as well as providing evidence-based clinical interventions to high-risk families.

Cameron L. Neece, Ph.D. is a licensed child clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor of Psychology at Loma Linda University. She is the principal investigator on the Mindful Awareness and Parenting Stress (MAPS) Project at Loma Linda University which examines the benefits of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for parents of young children with developmental delays. Dr Neece received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011. Her programme of research focuses on the development of child behaviour problems and later psychopathology in children with developmental disabilities, with a specific focus on family factors that exacerbate risk or promote resilience in children at risk. Dr Neece has maintained an active programme of research while still training, supervising, and providing clinical care to high-risk children and families.