Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationships Between Family Social Support and Parenting Stress, Burden, Beliefs and Practices (Published)
This paper includes the res ults of a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationships between perceived family social support and parenting stress, caregiving burden, parent engagement practices, and parent-child interaction practices among caregivers raising a child with and without identified disabilities or health-related conditions birth to 18 years of age. The study included 82 independent samples of caregivers (N = 7,675 study participants) conducted in 12 countries between 1985 and 2020. The Family Support Scale total scale score was the independent variable in each study. The dependent measures included seven different parenting stress scales, eight different caregiving burden scales, seven different parenting belief scales, and nine different parenting behavior and practices scales. The correlations between the independent and dependent measures were the sizes of effect between the perceived family social support and the different parenting measures. Results showed that perceived family social support was related to attenuated parenting stress, less caregiving burden, and more positive parenting beliefs, behavior, and practices. The sizes of effect ranged between r = -.14, 95% CI = -.17, -.11, p = .000, for caregiving burden and r = .22, 95% CI = .16, .28, p = .000, for parenting beliefs. The sizes of effect for the relationships between measures did not differ as a function of child condition (developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, health-related conditions, at-risk status, or no disability or at-risk status) or caregiver gender (mothers or fathers). Child age moderated the relationships between family social support and parenting stress and caregiving burden and caregiver age and marital status moderated the relationships between family social support and parenting stress. The pattern of results provided support for the hypothesized relationships between the independent and dependent measures based on the conceptual frameworks that guided the conduct of the study and showed that perceived family social support was related to attenuated parenting stress, less caregiving burden, and more positive parenting beliefs and practices.
Citation: Carl J. Dunst (2022) Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationships Between Family Social Support and Parenting Stress, Burden, Beliefs and Practices, International Journal of Health and Psychology Research, Vol.10, No.3, pp.1-32
Keywords: Perceived family social support, caregiving burden, meta-analysis, parent-child interaction practices, parenting engagement practices, parenting stress
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationships between the Adequacy of Family Resources and Parenting Stress (Published)
Citation: Carl J. Dunst (2022) Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationships between the Adequacy of Family Resources and Parenting Stress, International Journal of Health and Psychology Research, Vol.10, No.1, pp.18-30
Abstract: The birth and rearing of a child with a developmental disability or chronic medical condition is often a stressful life event for parents. Family system theory includes the tenet that the presence of family strengths, resources, and supports can buffer parents and other primary caregivers from the adverse effects of stressful life events. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was the evaluate the relationships between the adequacy of family resources and three types of parenting stress (parental distress, difficult child-related stress, and dysfunctional parent-child interactions). Eleven studies including 14 independent samples of study participants met the inclusion criteria (N = 3030 parents and other primary caregivers). Ten studies were conducted in the United States and one study was conducted in South Africa between 1994 and 2018. The participants’ children had either identified disabilities (N = 8 samples) or medical diagnoses (N = 6 samples). Meta-Essentials was used to perform the systematic review and meta-analysis and included forest plot analysis, publication bias analysis, effect size aggregation, between type of parenting stress subscale comparisons, and moderator analysis. The adequacy of family resources was significantly related to less parental distress, less child-related stress, and less difficult parent-child interactional patterns. The directions of effect were the same in every study and every sample of study participants. The size of effect between the independent and dependent measures was larger for parental distress (r = -.48, 95% CI = -.51 to -.44, p < .001) compared to both child-related stress (r = -.31, 95% CI = -.42 to -.19, p < .001) and dysfunctional parent-child interactional patterns (r = -.24, 95% CI = -.29 to -.20, p < .001). There were no differences in the sizes of effect for parents of children with identified disabilities or medical diagnoses. The pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that the adequacy of family resources would lessen parenting stress related to the birth and rearing of a child with a developmental disability or chronic medical condition.
Keywords: Family resources, Systematic Review, family systems theory, meta-analysis, parenting stress