Abstract
Introduction: Parenting stress and parental adjustment could implicate key differences in the relational dynamics that parents establish with their children, particularly when families come from vulnerable social contexts. Method: Participants were 142 fathers and mothers from a risk neighborhood of Chile. The variables examined were parenting stress (parental distress, parent–child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child) and parental adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress). Parents also completed a sociodemographic characterization survey. The statistical analyses were a correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analyses. Results: Overall, not all components of parenting stress were related to parental adjustment. Only parental distress was found as a significant predictor of poor parental adjustment (greater depression, anxiety, and stress), but not parent–child dysfunctional interaction and having a difficult child. Conclusions: The present study findings highlight the influence of stress on parenting as a relevant dimension of research for the improvement of the intervention deployed by the state regarding the protection of vulnerable Chilean children, providing multiple clinical and psychosocial applications for research and intervention purposes.
Highlights
Introduction iationsRisk neighborhoods are those communities with greater poverty, delinquency, unemployment, violence, or drug use, in comparison to middle-class neighborhoods [1–3].Parents’ main responsibility is raising children [4,5]
The present study aims to analyze the relationship between multidimensional parenting stress and parental adjustment in risk neighborhoods
The present findings revealed that the parental adjustment of children in vulnerable social contexts could only be predicted by parental distress, but not by parent–child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child
Summary
Risk neighborhoods are those communities with greater poverty, delinquency, unemployment, violence, or drug use, in comparison to middle-class neighborhoods [1–3]. Parents’ main responsibility is raising children [4,5]. Opportunities for child and adolescent healthy development could be lower in risk neighborhoods than in middle-class neighborhoods [6,7]. There is a greater risk of problematic development; children and adolescents could be less mature, less competent, and more prone to internalized symptoms and to externalizing problems [3,6,8]. There is a consensus that the work of being a father is a complex task that involves the development of competencies at different levels for an adequate achievement of the parental function [9–11]. Support programs for families in contexts of psychosocial risk have become an important focus in the design of child protection systems, Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
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