Parenting Stress in Low Income Battered and Community Women: Effects on Parenting Behavior

Abstract

The ability of parenting stress to predict observed and reported maternal behaviors was explored. Fifty-eight low income women participated with their 3- to 7-year- old children. Thirty of the women were also currently residing in a shelter for battered women. Mothers completed questionnaires and interviews designed to assess parenting stress, maternal adjustment, and marital relationship. Mothers also completed a computer simulation concerning their responses to 10 typical child behaviors. Mother and child were then observed in a 15-minute observation designed to illicit mild maternal stress. Multiple regression and partial correlation analyses indicated that parenting stress predicts maternal use of positive behaviors such as affection and proaction as well as negative behaviors such as prohibition. Results are discussed in terms of the need to develop a model for understanding the impact of parenting stress on childrearing behavior.