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

Abstract

Normal parenting stress appears in many parents due to everyday encounters that are difficult leading to stressful events in their parenting. Many studies have shown increased parenting stress among parents of children with special needs/disabilities. This study aims in comparing parenting stress among mothers of normal children and fathers of special need children. Objective: i) To compare stress of parenting among fathers of children with special needs and mothers of normal children. Materials and Methods: Sheldon Cohen Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire was used to assess parenting stress on father of 120 children with special needs(study group) and mothers of 120 normal (control group) children aged between 6 and 12 years. Statistical analysis was done using unpaired t-test.Results: The study group scored higher as compared to the control group with their means and standard deviations being (18.60 + 4.77) and (15.78 + 5.06) respectively. The statistical value of significance (p value) is 0.03. Conclusion:The fathers of children with special needs had significantly higher parenting stress levels as compared to the mothers of normal children.