2-121 - Parenting Stress in At-Risk Families: Mechanisms for Family Functioning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Parenting stress has long been associated with adverse consequences for parents, children, and families, and is more recently examined as a mechanism shaping family processes (Deater-Deckard & Panneton, 2017). For example, socioeconomics, culture, and/or raising a child with developmental differences may shape the experience of parenting stress, with implications for the family’s response to that stress, including effective parenting strategies and child behavior. Further, more complex models examining stability of stress and using mediation to deconstruct the relations among parenting stress, parenting, and children’s behavior may point to specific, sensitive points for intervention. This symposium includes four presentations from three different at-risk samples, all utilizing mediation to explore the integral role of parenting stress in broader family functioning.

The first paper uses an Early Head Start sample to examine how disorganization within the home and neighborhood relate to parenting stress, and how parenting stress may mediate the relation between disorganization and child behavior. The second paper also uses an Early Head Start sample to examine the bidirectional relations between parenting stress and behavior problems over time, looking more closely at how family conflict and maternal supportiveness may act as mediators in this process. The third paper examines how family resources and parenting stress contribute to using specific discipline strategies in a sample of American Indian families. Finally, the fourth paper explores how Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction improves psychological flexibility in parents of children with developmental disabilities, reducing the impact of parenting stress on use of specific discipline behaviors.

Sub Unit

• Family Context & Processes

Chairs

• Emily D Gerstein, University of Missouri-St. Louis

• Lucia Ciciolla, Oklahoma State University

Individual Presentations

• Neighborhood Disorder, Home Disorganization, and Parenting Stress: Implications for Young Children’s Behavior - Presenting Author: Samantha Addante, Oklahoma State University; Non-Presenting Author: Mira Armans, Oklahoma State University; Non-Presenting Author: Lucia Ciciolla, Oklahoma State University

• Parenting Stress, Family Processes, and Children’s Behavior: Exploring Transactional Relations Across the First Three Years - Presenting Author: Kathryn E Cherry, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Non-Presenting Author: Emily D Gerstein, University of Missouri-St. Louis

• Resource Availability and Parenting Stress Among American Indian Families - Presenting Author: Mira Armans, Oklahoma State University; Non-Presenting Author: Samantha Addante, Oklahoma State University; Non-Presenting Author: Lucia Ciciolla, Oklahoma State University

• Parenting Stress and Parent Discipline Behaviors: The Role of Psychological Flexibility - Presenting Author: Megan L Krantz, Loma Linda University; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Sanner, Loma Linda University; Non-Presenting Author: Amanda E Preston, Loma Linda University; Non-Presenting Author: Cameron L Neece, Loma Linda University