Parental Stress in Families of Children With Disabilities

Abstract

Parents of children with disabilities often experience a higher level of stress than parents of children without disabilities, regardless of categories of disabilities. Understanding parental stressors can lead to appropriate interventions and supports for these parents and their children with disabilities. This article discusses issues of parental stress by exploring what is known about parental stress in raising children with disabilities and examining factors that may result in parental stress for practitioners to work on so as to help parents reduce their stress. This article focuses on three strong predictors of parental stress in families of children with disabilities: (a) problem behaviors of the child, (b) coping strategies of parents, and (c) parenting support for families. Implications for practitioners to help parents reduce their stress are discussed.