Abstract
The purpose of this study was to verify a theoretical model of parents’ responses to difficulties they experienced with their child. The model presents relationships between seven variables: (a) discrepancy between parental goal and the child’s current level of development, (b) parental experience of a difficulty, (c) representation of the child in the parent’s mind, (d) parent’s withdrawal from the parenting situation, (e) seeking help, (f) distancing oneself from the situation, and (g) applying pressure on the child. The study involved 319 parents of preschool children: 66 parents of three-year-olds, 85 parents of four-year-olds, 99 parents of five-year-olds and 69 parents of six-year-old children. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was used to verify the compounds described in the theoretical model. The studies revealed that when a parent is experiencing difficulties, the probability increases that the parent will have one of two reactions towards that type of stress: withdrawal from the situation or applying pressure on the child. Experiencing difficulties has no connection with searching for help and is negatively related to distancing oneself from the situation.
Highlights
Partental experience of difficulty in a parenting situation is understood as the internal state of tension caused by a difficult situation (Gurycka, 1979)
The term experiencing difficulty in a parenting situation narrows down the scope of the concept to situations related to interaction with the child, i.e., situations that are characteristic of the parenting process
The theoretical model was verified by means of structural equations modeling
Summary
Partental experience of difficulty in a parenting situation is understood as the internal state of tension caused by a difficult situation (Gurycka, 1979). Coping with difficulties is a typical stress-related state. Experiencing difficulty is treated in the literature as a synonym of mental stress (Reykowski, 1966). In other words, experiencing difficulty in the parenting situation is synonymous with experiencing stress in that situation. Many factors determine people’s responses to stress. These include: representation of the stressor (Eschleman Kevin et al, 2012), personality traits (Higgins & Hughes, 2012), motivation to cope with the stress and chronic stress (Ebstrup et al, 2011), stress intensity
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