What does research say about parenting?

“Support for women
with high and low education ‘Parenting
stress’ (the stress
experienced by parents in caring for
a child) undermines
sensitive, responsive
parenting and negatively affects
children’s development and
wellbeing.

A new study, Parenting stress and parent support among
mothers with high
and low education,
explores whether
differences in
parenting stress,
according to parental socio- economic position, can be explained by any differences in support that mothers receive.
The study gathered
information on
mothers’ parenting
stress from over
5,800 families in a
large, nationally
representative
sample (Growing Up
in Scotland second
birth cohort), interviewed in
2011-2012 when
the child was ten
months. Parenting
stress was measured
using an abbreviated
version of the Parental Stress Scale
[1], computing the
average score of
mothers’ agreement
with three statements (5-point response scale):

‘Having a child
leaves little time
and flexibility in my life’

‘It is difficult to
balance different
responsibilities
because of my child’

‘Having a child has
meant having too
few choices and
too little control
over my life’.”

READ FULL CONTENT at:

http://parentingacrossscotland.org/info-for-practitioners/articles/parenting-stress/