Parenting Stress and Perceived Family Functioning of Chinese Parents in Hong Kong: Implications for Social Work Practice

Abstract

This article reports the results of a telephone survey (n = 1002) conducted in November 2008, which aimed to identify parenting stress and perceived family functioning of Chinese parents in Hong Kong; to explore the effects of the parents’ socio-demographic characteristics (gender, family income, education and family structure) on the aforementioned stress and functioning variables; and to examine the interrelationship among these characteristics and the two variables in question. Results showed that the reported parenting stress was at average level, while the perceived family functioning was slightly below average. The results also indicated that the parenting stress of mothers, single parents, the low-income and the less-educated was higher than that of fathers, parents of nuclear and extended families, the high-income and the better-educated. Socio-demographic characteristics except the parent’s gender had similar effects on perceived family functioning. Higher parenting stress was associated with lower family functioning, and explained a larger variance in the perceived family functioning than the socio-demographic characteristics taken alone. The results of the study have provided empirical support regarding the interrelationships among the vulnerable groups in society, parenting stress and perceived family functioning. Implications of the study for social work practice are discussed.