Abstract
Parents of children with psychological disorders experience heightened levels of stress compared to parents of children without psychological disorders. Self-compassion may serve as a protective factor for parenting stress. There is limited research evaluating stress and self-compassion in parents of children with various psychological disorders. This study examined and compared parenting stress and self-compassion in parents of children with and without psychological disorders. Parents ( N = 220) completed self-report questionnaires for parenting stress and self-compassion. Parents of children with psychological disorders reported higher levels of parenting stress compared to parents of children without psychological disorders ( F(1,218) = 9.60, p < .01) with a small effect size (partial η2 = 0.04), but similar levels of self-compassion ( F(1,218) = 0.008, p = .93). Self-compassion was significantly inversely associated with parenting stress for both parents of children with psychological disorders ( r = −.35, p = .01) and parents of children without psychological disorders ( r = −.21, p = .05). Similarly, self-compassion significantly predicted reduced parenting stress for both parents of children with psychological disorders and parents of children without psychological disorders, but self-compassion accounted for more of the variance in parenting stress for parents of children with psychological disorders. The results suggest self-compassion may be a protective factor for parenting stress in parents of children with and without psychological disorders. Fostering greater self-compassion in parents of children with psychological disorders may help to combat the additional challenges of raising these children. Future studies may explore the protective factor of self-compassion through compassion-based interventions with parents.
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