Parenting Hassles Research Articles

Associations of parenting daily hassles with parents’ mental health during the COVID-19 school closure

RationaleParenting is a demanding task associated with parents' mental health, which is likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The present study investigated daily parenting hassles and their effects on parents’ mental health during this period. MethodsA total of 7314 parents with children aged 3–14 years old completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and reported on their perceived daily parenting hassles, mental health, family support, and co-parenting during the COVID-19 school closure. ResultsMost parents (73.4%) showed different degrees of daily hassles, and a relatively higher prevalence of depression (18.7%), anxiety (22.4%), and stress (12.1%) were found. Motherhood, parents' younger ages, lower education parents, job loss, and having younger children, boys, and multiple children were associated with elevated daily parenting hassles and mental health issues. Importantly, daily parenting hassles were uniquely associated with mental health problems after controlling for various sociodemographic characteristics, family support, and co-parenting. Furthermore, family support and co-parenting can attenuate daily parenting hassles, which, in turn, protect parents’ mental health. ConclusionsThe findings of the present study underscore the critical need to consider daily parenting hassles and their effects on the mental health of parents during the COVID-19 lockdown. The present study also outlines potential factors (family support and co-parenting) that attenuate parents’ daily parenting hassles and protect their mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry in Response to Stressor Moderates the Relation Between Parenting Hassles and Child Externalizing Problems.

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and self-identified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child’s externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress.

Father-child physiological concordance on two timescales is differentially associated with paternal characteristics.

Conceptual work on interpersonal physiology suggests that the dynamic concordance between two person's physiological arousal may transpire on multiple timescales, and the timescale on which it unfolds may determine its psychological significance. The current study tested this hypothesis in the context of parent-child interaction by examining whether the concordance in their cardiac arousal on two timescales was differentially associated with parental characteristics. Using data from 98 fathers and their 3- to 5-year-old children during a task designed to frustrate young children, results indicated that the associations between cardiac concordance and fathers' self-reported parenting hassles emerged for the slower timescale (concordant increasing trends in arousal), whereas concordance on the faster timescale (concordant second-by-second reactivity) was associated with fathers' emotional clarity. Findings suggest that there may be multiple layers of concordant patterns in the dynamic associations between fathers' and children's cardiac arousal, which unfold on different timescales and bear different psychological significance.

Moderating effects of environmental stressors on the development of attention to threat in infancy.

An attention bias to threat has been linked to psychosocial outcomes across development, including anxiety (Pérez-Edgar, K., Bar-Haim, Y., McDermott, J. M., Chronis-Tuscano, A., Pine, D. S., & Fox, N. A. (2010). Attention biases to threat and behavioral inhibition in early childhood shape adolescent social withdrawal. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10(3), 349). Although some attention biases to threat are normative, it remains unclear how these biases diverge into maladaptive patterns of emotion processing for some infants. Here, we examined the relation between household stress, maternal anxiety, and attention bias to threat in a longitudinal sample of infants tested at 4, 8, and 12months. Infants were presented with a passive viewing eye-tracking task in which angry, happy, or neutral facial configurations appeared in one of the four corners of a screen. We measured infants' latency to fixate each target image and collected measures of parental anxiety and daily hassles at each timepoint. Intensity of daily parenting hassles moderated patterns of attention bias to threat in infants over time. Infants exposed to heightened levels of parental hassles became slower to detect angry (but not happy) facial configurations compared with neutral faces between 4 and 12months of age, regardless of parental anxiety. Our findings highlight the potential impact of the environment on the development of infants' early threat processing and the need to further investigate how early environmental factors shape the development of infant emotion processing.

Association between Second-Time Mother's Prenatal Depression and Firstborn's Behaviour Problems: The Mediation Role of Parenting Daily Hassles.

Background: With the relaxation of birth control policy in China in recent years, second-time mothers’ mental health has raised concerns. However, the impact of firstborn children’s behaviour problems on second-time mothers’ prenatal depression in families transitioning to siblinghood has received little attention from family psychologists. Aims: This research aims to investigate whether firstborn children’s behaviour problems affect second-time mothers’ prenatal depression and the mediation role of daily parenting hassles, i.e., minor stressors associated with parenting, on this relationship. Methods: Data about second-time mothers’ prenatal depression, parenting daily hassles, and firstborn children’s behaviour problems were collected from 105 families transitioning to two children families using mother-reported questionnaires. Regressions were used to analyze the data. Results: About half of the mothers in the sample have depressive symptoms. Firstborns’ behaviour problems did not have a direct effect on the mother’s prenatal depression, but the problems did have an indirect effect via parenting daily hassles. The mothers’ age was significantly associated with prenatal depression. Conclusions: The mediation role of parenting daily hassles in the association with firstborn’s behaviour problems and mother’s prenatal depression suggests the need for support that reduce the levels of daily parenting hassles from firstborn children.

Variables which predict maternal self-efficacy: A hierarchical linear regression analysis.

Children with developmental disabilities tend to develop challenging behaviours. Parenting programmes that focus on behaviour management may help parents address these difficult behaviours by increasing parenting self-efficacy. However, the literature on parenting self-efficacy is still limited due to measurement variability in conceptualization and operationalization of the construct, and heavy reliance on cross-sectional data. This study utilized hierarchical linear regression to examine the predictors of parenting self-efficacy in 284 mothers who attended a parenting programme in a hospital's Department of Child Development in Singapore. Our model was able to explain 37% of variance in parenting self-efficacy. After controlling for general stress and specific parenting hassles, the programme was still found to be effective in improving mothers' parenting self-efficacy. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for developing a model for parenting self-efficacy, and possible improvements to be made on the parenting programme.

Structural validity of the Parenting Daily Hassles Intensity Scale.

Although the Parenting Daily Hassles Intensity Scale is a common measure, it has been relatively unclear whether users should employ the 15-item form that quantifies routine parenting hassles on two dimensions of intensity or the 20-item form that assumes a single dimension underlies the responses on the scale. To help address this gap, Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the structural validity of the 15- and 20-item forms in a sample of 174 mothers with at least one young child ( =6.040, SD=0.492). Results of the Bayesian analysis did not provide empirical support for either form. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis indicated that six of the hassles that appear to address challenging child behaviour tended to cluster onto one latent factor whereas 11 hassles that appear to speak to routine parenting chores tended to cluster onto a second factor. A follow-up Bayesian analysis indicated that intensity scores can be approximated well under the 17-item form (ppp=0.124). Accordingly, researchers and clinicians are encouraged to consider the 17-item form when addressing their measurement needs.

Parenting in poverty: Attention bias and anxiety interact to predict parents' perceptions of daily parenting hassles.

Research has long acknowledged the centrality of parents' subjective experiences in the caregiving role for the organization of parenting behaviors and family functioning. Recent scientific advances in cognitive process models and in the neurobiology of parenting indicate that parenting is shaped in part by conscious and nonconscious cognitive processes. This study extends a growing literature on neurocognitive models of parenting by exploring the extent to which attention processes in parents operate independently and interactively with intrapsychic processes, proximal interpersonal stressors, and the larger socioeconomic context to predict perceptions of parenting hassles in primarily low-income Latino/a parents of young children living in urban areas of concentrated disadvantage (N = 185). Analyses indicated that parent reports of anxiety, intimate partner violence, and perceptions of financial hardship each uniquely predicted parents' perceptions of daily parenting hassles. Parents' attentional bias toward threat interacted with anxiety symptoms such that parents experiencing high levels of attention bias toward threat in combination with high levels of anxiety reported significantly more daily parenting hassles. Findings from the current study provide insight into the ways in which neurocognitive processes affect one aspect of parenting, with implications for programs and policies designed to support parenting for families in poverty. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Role of ADHD and Negative Emotional Lability in Predicting Changes in Parenting Daily Hassles

The present study examined the extent to which children’s negative emotional lability (measured via ecological momentary assessment—EMA) and ADHD diagnostic status predicted changes in the frequency of daily parenting hassles and the stress resulting from daily hassles at one-week follow-up when controlling for baseline parenting hassles. Parents of 84 children 8–12 years-old (47 with ADHD, 37 without ADHD) completed a measure of parenting daily hassles at baseline and follow-up and participated in EMA assessment protocol ratings of their child’s mood (3-times daily) for one week. Analyses of covariance indicated that parents of children with ADHD reported significantly greater frequency of daily parenting hassles and intensity of parenting stress resulting from daily hassles than parents of children without ADHD at baseline and follow-up. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that children’s negative emotional lability was a significant predictor of the intensity of parenting stress resulting from daily hassles, but not the frequency of daily parenting hassles. There was also an interaction of ADHD diagnostic status and greater EMA-derived negative emotional lability in the prediction of the frequency of daily parenting hassles due to children’s challenging behaviors. Specifically, greater negative emotional lability predicted more frequent daily parenting hassles due to children’s challenging behaviors among parents of children without ADHD but not among parents of children with ADHD. Overall, this study suggests that children’s negative emotional lability is a significant predictor of aspects of daily parenting hassles across parents of children with and without ADHD.

Maternal Health Status and Parenting Stress in Low-Income, Ethnic-Minority Mothers of Children with Conduct Disorder Problems: the Role of Daily Parenting Hassles.

Minimal attention has been given to understanding parenting stress among low-income, ethnically diverse mothers of children with conduct problems. Maternal health and parenting hassles may serve as important risk factors for parenting stress. This study examined whether parenting hassles mediated the relations between maternal physical and mental health and parenting stress in a sample of low-income, ethnically diverse mothers of children with behavioral problems. The sample included 177 low-income black, Latina, and white mothers of kindergartners with behavior problems. Path analysis was employed to assess the associations between maternal mental and physical health and parenting stress, as well as the moderating role of parenting hassles in this cross-sectional study. After adjusting for covariates, we found that parenting hassles mediated the relationship between social support and parenting stress as well as maternal health and parenting stress. Findings suggest that promoting coping resources for daily parenting hassles and supporting the physical and mental health of minority mothers may have important implications for parenting children with high behavior problems.

Fathers of Children with Disabilities: Stress and Life Satisfaction

As the role of fathers within families continues to evolve, understanding how these changes impact life satisfaction is needed. This is especially relevant for fathers who have children with disabilities; therefore, this study sought to understand the group differences between fathers of children with and without disabilities. A survey design was used that involved 85 fathers of children with disabilities and 121 fathers of children without disabilities. Analyses indicated that fathers of children with disabilities experienced greater stress in daily parenting hassles, family life events and changes, parenting stress and health stress. In comparison, fathers with children who did not have disabilities had a higher level of coping and greater satisfaction with life. A path-analysis model based on family stress theory indicated that whether or not fathers had children who were disabled was a major contributor to life satisfaction followed by parenting stress and stress from family life events and changes. These findings provide implications for future research and practice.

Increasing Parent Involvement in Youth HIV Prevention: A Randomized Caribbean Study

This article presents preliminary findings of a randomized HIV prevention study in Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The study centers on a family HIV workshop aimed at strengthening parenting skills that are empirically linked to reducing adolescent HIV exposure and other sexual risks. These skills include parental monitoring; educating youth about HIV, sex, and other sexually transmitted infections (STI's); and discussing cultural and interpersonal pressures to have sex. Participants include 180 primary caregivers and their 12-14-year-old adolescents randomized to either the Trinidad and Tobago family HIV Workshop (N = 92) or a general workshop (N = 88). Intervention and control group participants completed pretest and posttest measures on parenting and HIV risk outcomes. Compared to controls, intervention parents reported improvements in HIV knowledge (d = .79); attitudes toward AIDS (d = .42); general communication with adolescents (d = .94); conversations with adolescents about sex (d = .95); conversations about sexual risks and values (d = .43); monitoring of adolescents (d = .34); conflicts with adolescents (d = .30); and intensity of daily parenting hassles (d = .35). Intervention and control parents did not differ in behavioral control, use of positive parenting techniques, and expansion of support networks. Implications for addressing rising HIV risks among young people in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean are discussed.

Fathers' parenting hassles and coping: associations with emotional expressiveness and their sons' socioemotional competence

AbstractThe present study examined fathers' daily parenting hassles and coping strategies to (a) determine their association with fathers' emotional expressiveness and (b) predict their sons' development of socioemotional competence. Fathers of 148 preschool‐aged boys reported on their parenting hassles, coping strategies, and emotional expressiveness; mothers also reported on fathers' emotional expressiveness; and teachers reported on boys' socioemotional competence. Parenting hassles were associated with less rational, more emotional, and more avoidance coping as well as negative emotional expressiveness. More emotional and less rational coping responses were related to more negative expressiveness, whereas more rational, more emotional, and less coping were related to more positive expressiveness. Fathers' negative expressiveness was predictive of their sons being rated as more aggressive and disruptive by their teachers. In addition, fathers' parenting hassles and coping both predicted teacher ratings of their sons' aggressiveness. Implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Maternal Postnatal Emotional Well-being and Perceived Parenting Hassles: Does Community Intervention with Normal Populations Make a Difference?

The impact of community intervention by health visitors on maternal emotional well-being and perceived hassles of parenting was examined longitudinally (pregnancy to two years after the child's birth) in a sample of Greek mothers in the normal population. Health visitors were assigned randomly to an experimental group (receiving specific training on issues of parenting and early psychosocial development) and a comparison group (not receiving the particular training). Mothers were recruited through health visitors on a voluntary basis, thus forming an experimental and a comparison group. Results suggest a positive effect of trained health visitors on both the employed measures; mothers of the experimental group showed improving emotional wellbeing and lower percentages of scores suggesting depression on the EPDS scale and they reported better adjustment to the baby and fewer, and less intense, ‘hassles’ associated with their day-to-day parenting. The evidence stemming from the study provides indications fo...

Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of parenting hassles: Associations with psychological symptoms, nonparenting hassles, and child behavior problems

The purpose of this study was to specify the relation between parenting hassles, nonparenting hassles, and child behavior problems in 60 nonreferred families and to determine if parenting hassles predict adult psychological symptoms beyond that explained by nonparenting hassles. Sixty families (56 mothers, 40 fathers) completed measures assessing parenting hassles, nonparenting hassles, and symptoms of psychological distress. Mothers and teachers also provided data on frequency of children's behavior problems. Results indicated that child behavior problems and nonparenting stress were both correlated with parenting stress, yet in a majority of multivariate analyses, child behavior problems played a much stronger, predictive role. In addition, teacher reports of child behavior problems were positively associated with both maternal and paternal parenting hassles, indicating that within this sample, parenting stress was associated with hassles pertaining to realistic, as opposed to distorted, perceptions of child behavior problems. Supporting current models of the stress process, nonparenting hassles were significantly associated with symptoms of psychological distress in both mothers and fathers; however, parenting hassles also predicted distress in an additive manner. Implications for future research and application are discussed.

Early parenting and daily hassles with children in families with infants and tuddlers

Early parenting and daily hassles with children in families with infants and tuddlers