Who is more stressed! Mothers of normal children or fathers of children with special needs ?

Abstract

Introduction: Normal parenting stress appears in many parents due to everyday encounters that are difficult\nleading to stressful events in their parenting. Many studies have shown increased parenting stress among\nparents of children with special needs/disabilities. This study aims in comparing parenting stress among\nmothers of normal children and fathers of special need children.\nObjective: i) To compare stress of parenting among fathers of children with special needs and mothers of\nnormal children.\nMaterials and Methods: Sheldon Cohen Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire was used to assess\nparenting stress on father of 120 children with special needs(study group) and mothers of 120 normal\n(control group) children aged between 6 and 12 years. Statistical analysis was done using unpaired t-test.\nResults: The study group scored higher as compared to the control group with their means and standard\ndeviations being (18.60 + 4.77) and (15.78 + 5.06) respectively. The statistical value of significance (p\nvalue) is 0.03.\nConclusion: The fathers of children with special needs had significantly higher parenting stress levels as\ncompared to the mothers of normal children.\n\nKeywords:\xa0Paternal,\xa0Parenting,\xa0Stress.