Assessment of the Relationship Between Parenting Stress and a Child’s Ability to Functionally Communicate

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this research project was to examine the relationship between parenting stress and a child’sability to functionally communicate within families who participated in an early intervention developmental disability program. Method: Using a two-group, cross-sectional survey design, this study explored the above relationship with respect to total stress as well as domain-specific stress. In addition, this study described how this relationship differed with respect to key demographic characteristics. Results: The findings from this study of 64 parents were statistically significant and informative. Conclusions: The findings suggest that a child’s ability to functionally communicate does negatively relate to the level of parenting stress in the parent-child subsystem. Implications for both social work practice and policy are presented.