This study explored the relationships among stress, coping, and perceptions of child behavior in parents of preschoolers with cerebral palsy. Parents (62 mothers and 22 fathers) completed measures of parenting stress, depression, parenting satisfaction, social support, and child behavior problems. For mothers, only parenting self-efficacy was a significant predictor of maternal perceptions of child adjustment. High levels of maternal social support satisfaction were related to low levels of depression and parenting stress and to high levels of parenting satisfaction. High levels of depression were related to high levels of parenting stress and low levels of parenting satisfaction. For fathers, high levels of distress were related to low levels of parenting satisfaction and high levels of child maladjustment.A child with a physical disability and the stressors associated with raising such a child can have a profound effect on family functioning. Childrearing demands can be overwhelming, medical costs can be prohibitively high, social engagements are often curtailed, and appropriate treatment for the child can be difficult to find (e.g., Palfrey, Walker, Butler, & Singer, 1989;Seligman & Darling, 1989).Children who have physical disabilities also may lag behind their peers in social, emotional, motor, or cognitive development (e.g., Battle, 1974;Kolb & Whishaw, 1985), resulting in frequent feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and frustration on the part of the parent. Children with chronic physical disabilities also have a tendency to exhibit behavior problems, such as distractibility, hyperactivity, or conduct disorders (Baxter, 1986;Friedrich & Friedrich, 1981). These problems have been found to be highly correlated with parental stress (Beckman, 1983) and family problems (Drotar, Crawford, & Bush, 1984; Friedrich, Wilturner, & Cohen, 1985). It is likely that child behavior problems and impairments in family functioning are intertwined in an ongoing circle of events. As child behavior
