Opvoedstress bij Vaders en Moeders in relatie tot Sociaal-Emotionele Problemen bij Peuters

Abstract

The high demands that parents place on themselves and on their children, can lead to parenting stress. This arises in interaction between different parent and child characteristics and van have several negative effects for both parent and child. The aim of this research was to investigate whether there is a relationship between parenting stress and social-emotional problems in toddlers and whether this relationship is different for fathers and mothers. Data were collected from a community sample of 526 Dutch families with a child aged 1-4 years. Both of the parents were asked to complete several questionnaires assessing parenting stress, social-emotional problems with their toddler and demographic variables. Therefore a Pearson’s r correlation and multiple regression analyses, were performed to analyze the data. In accordance with the expectations, findings revealed a medium positive relation between parenting stress and social-emotional problems in toddlers. Comparable positive associations were found between maternal parenting stress and social-emotional problems in toddlers, which also applies to paternal stress. With these results, some of the socio-emotional problems in toddlers can be explained by parenting stress from one or both parents, which emphasizes the importance of interventions, such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training, to reduce parenting stress in order to prevent and reduce social-emotional problems in toddlers.