Parenting stress in families with special needs is largely determined by overall nature of the disorder in children. Some examples are:
· Chronic disabling conditions, both medical and mental, make extra demands of parents, resulting in stress
· Children with behavioral and developmental disorders causing higher levels of parenting stress than children with chronic medical conditions.
· Besides type of disability, the family’s coping resources and the formal and informal supports it can muster determine the level of parenting stress
· Although ethnicity is not related to parenting stress, lack of proficiency in English and low parental education seems to be important determinants of some aspects of parenting stress.
· Parents of children with developmental disorders have reported high levels of stress associated with the irreversibility of the disability, anticipated limitation of motor or intellectual potential, increased burden of care, and social stigma attached to disability, especially cognitive. Unlike medical and behavioral problems, developmental disabilities are often visible, contributing to social isolation of the parents.
This finding underscores the need to provide psychosocial supports and counseling to both parents and children.
Research is from:http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/content/61467h253x51058w/fulltext.pdf
I am also researching stress for parents with children with disabilities. I find this information to be very helpful in building upon my inquiry. I definitely agree that the needs is determined by the overall nature of the disability. It is important that the overall nature is recognized before further evaluating a family's stress.
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