ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Parents of children with learning disabilities such as Late Global Development, Down syndrome and Intellectual Disabilities experience parental stress as a result of adjusting and coping with their children’s conditions. Therefore, this study aims to analyses the level of parental stress among parents with learning difficulties and the differences in parents and children’s gender with parental stress level. A probability sample method was implemented in this study to determine the level of stress among parents of children with learning disabilities. Parental Stress Index/Short Form instrument was used in this study to determine the parental stress level. A total of 120 respondents among parents of children with learning difficulties has participated in this study. The results showed level of parental stress among parents of children with learning difficulties is 97.5 % or 117 parents out of 120 participants with children with learning difficulties falls under typical stress category, 2.5 % or only 3 parents reported to have High Stress Category and none reported to have clinically significant stress. As for the differences in gender among parents, result shows that there is no significant differences among both parent’s gender and children s gender with parental stress. Both father and mother faces almost the equal amount of stress and children s gender does not differ in parental stress.
Ahmad, N., MuhdYusoff, F., Ratnasingam, S., Mohamed, F., Nasir, N. H., MohdSallehuddin, S., ... & Aris, T. (2015). Trends and factors associated with mental health problems among children and adolescents in Malaysia. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 8(2), 125-136.
Amar, H. S. S. (2008). Meeting the needs of children with disability in Malaysia. Med J Malaysia, 63(1), 1
Aracena, M., Gómez, E., Undurraga, C., Leiva, L., Marinkovic, K., & Molina, Y. (2016). Validity and reliability of the Parenting Stress Index Short Form (PSI-SF) applied to a Chilean sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(12), 3554-3564.
Armstrong, M. I., Birnie-Lefcovitch, S., & Ungar, M. T. (2005). Pathways between social support, family wellbeing, quality of parenting, and child resilience: What we know. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14(2), 269-281.
Badger, T. A. (1996). Family members' experiences living with members with depression. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 18(2), 149-171.
Bahry, N. S., Mat, A., Kori, N. L., Ali, A. M., Abdul Munir, Z., & Salleh, M. Z. M. (2019). Challenges faced by Malaysian parents in caregiving of a child with disabilities. Bahry, NS, 118-124.
Baqutayan, S. M. S. (2015). Stress and coping mechanisms: A historical overview. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2 S1), 479-479.
Bernstein, G. A., & Borchardt, C. M. (1991). Anxiety disorders of childhood and adolescence: A critical review. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(4), 519-532.
Bohon, C. (2019). Binge eating disorder in children and adolescents. Child Adolescent Psychiatry Clin N Am, 28, 549-555.
Booth, T., & Booth, W. (1996). Parental competence and parents with learning difficulties. Child & Family Social Work, 1(2), 81-86.
Chadda, R. K. (2014). Caring for the family caregivers of persons with mental illness. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(3), 221.
Cohen, J. (1992). Statistical power analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(3), 98-101
Corrigan, P. W., & Miller, F. E. (2004). Shame, blame, and contamination: A review of the impact of mental illness stigma on family members. Journal of Mental Health, 13(6), 537-548
Dyson, L. L. (1996). The experiences of families of children with learning disabilities: Parental stress, family functioning, and sibling self-concept. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 29(3), 280-286
Edition, F. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Am Psychiatric Assoc, 21
Everly, G. S., & Lating, J. M. (2002). The anatomy and physiology of the human stress response. A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response, 15-48.
Freedman, R. I., Litchfield, L. C., & Warfield, M. E. (1995). Balancing work and family: Perspectives of parents of children with developmental disabilities. Families in Society, 76(8), 507-514
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44(3), 513.
Holmes, A. M., & Deb, P. (2003). The effect of chronic illness on the psychological health of family members. Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 6(1), 13-22
Hoagwood, K. E., Cavaleri, M. A., Olin, S. S., Burns, B. J., Slaton, E., Gruttadaro, D., & Hughes, R. (2010). Family support in children’s mental health: A review and synthesis. Clinical child and family psychology review, 13(1), 1-45.
Ilias, K., Ponnusamy, S., & Normah, C. D. (2008). Parental stress in parents of special children: The effectiveness of psychoeducation program on parents’ psychosocial well beings. Simposium Sains Kesihatan Kebangsaan Kuala, 18-19.
Isa, S. N. I., Ishak, I., Ab Rahman, A., Saat, N. Z. M., Din, N. C., Lubis, S. H., & Ismail, M. F. M. (2016). Perceived Stress among Malay Caregivers of Children with Learning Disabilities in Kelantan. Malaysian Journal of Health Sciences/Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia, 14(2),
Kamaruddin, K., & Mamat, N. (2015). Stress among the parents of children with Learning Disabilities: A Demographical Analysis. International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education, 2(9), 194-200.
Kvist, A. P., Nielsen, H. S., & Simonsen, M. (2011). The effects of children's ADHD on parents' relationship dissolution and labor supply.
Gubman, G. D., & Tessler, R. C. (1987). The impact of mental illness on families: Concepts and priorities. Journal of Family Issues, 8(2), 226-245.
Malhotra, S., Khan, W., & Bhatia, M. S. (2015). Gender Differences in Stress among Parents of Children with Autism.
Mahoney, F. P. (2009). The relationship between parenting stress and maternal responsiveness among mothers of children with developmental problems (Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University).
Margalit, M., Al?Yagon, M., & Kleitman, T. (2006). Family subtyping and early intervention. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 3(1), 33-41.
Marsh, D. T., & Johnson, D. L. (1997). The family experience of mental illness: implications for intervention. Professional Psychology: research and practice, 28(3), 229.
Mazzone, S., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2017). Emotion-Related Socialization Behaviours in Parents of Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Psychology, 8(08), 1134.
Masi, G., Mucci, M., & Millepiedi, S. (2001). Separation anxiety disorder in children and adolescents. CNS drugs, 15(2), 93-104.
McBride, B. A., Schoppe, S. J., & Rane, T. R. (2002). Child characteristics, parenting stress, and parental involvement: Fathers versus mothers. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(4), 998-1011.
Miller, G. E., & Chen, E. (2010). Harsh family climate in early life presages the emergence of a proinflammatory phenotype in adolescence. Psychological Science, 21(6), 848-856.
Moll, K., Kunze, S., Neuhoff, N., Bruder, J., & Schulte-Körne, G. (2014). Specific learning disorder: Prevalence and gender differences. PLoS one, 9(7), e103537.
Musa, R. B., & Shafiee, Z. A. S. M. A. N. I. (2007). Depressive, anxiety and stress levels among mothers of ADHD children and their relationships to ADHD symptoms. AJP, 8, 20-28.
Nadeem, M., Choudhary, F. R., Parveen, A., & Javaid, F. (2016). Parental Stress among Parents of Children with and without Disabilities. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences (PJSS), 36(2).
Phetrasuwan, S., & Miles, S. M. (2009). Parenting stress in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 14(3), 157-165.
Ousley, O., & Cermak, T. (2014). Autism spectrum disorder: defining dimensions and subgroups.
Petretto, D. R., & Masala, C. (2017). Dyslexia and specific Learning Disorders: New International Diagnostic Criteria.Urrent Developmental Disorders Reports, 1(1), 20-28.
Ozturk, Y., Riccadonna, S., & Venuti, P. (2014). Parenting dimensions in mothers and fathers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(10), 1295-1306
Ranta, R. S., Sharma, V. K., & Gupta, P. (2015). Parenting stress and need assessment of families with disabled children across Himachal Himalaya. Assessment, 3(2).
Resch, J. A., Benz, M. R., & Elliott, T. R. (2012). Evaluating a dynamic process model of wellbeing for parents of children with disabilities: A multi-method analysis. Rehabilitation Psychology, 57(1), 61.
Sanders, J. L., & Morgan, S. B. (1997). Family stress and adjustment as perceived by parents of children with autism or Down syndrome: Implications for intervention. Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 19(4), 15-32.
Speaks, A. (2011). What is autism? Retrieved on November, 17, 2011
Schulz, R., & Sherwood, P. R. (2008). Physical and mental health effects of family caregiving. Journal of Social Work Education, 44(sup3), 105-113.
SI, O., VY, L., & AR, F. N. (2017). Parenting stress among Malaysian parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Med & Health Jun 2017; 12(1): 42-55.
Soltanifar, A., Akbarzadeh, F., Moharreri, F., Soltanifar, A., Ebrahimi, A., Mokhber, N., & Naqvi, S. S. A. (2015). Comparison of parental stress among mothers and fathers of children with autistic spectrum disorder in Iran. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 20(1), 93.
Solis, M. L., & Abidin, R. R. (1991). The Spanish version parenting stress index: A psychometric study. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 20(4), 372-378.
Tan, K. L., & Yadav, H. (2008). Assessing the development of children with disability in Malaysia. The Medical Journal of Malaysia, 63(3), 199-202.
Theule, J., Wiener, J., Tannock, R., & Jenkins, J. M. (2013). Parenting stress in families of children with ADHD: A meta-analysis. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 21(1), 3-17.
Valicenti-McDermott, M., Lawson, K., Hottinger, K., Seijo, R., Schechtman, M., Shulman, L., & Shinnar, S. (2015). Parental stress in families of children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Journal of Child Neurology, 30(13), 1728-1735.
Walton-Moss, B., Gerson, L., & Rose, L. (2005). Effects of mental illness on family quality of life. Issues in mental health nursing, 26(6), 627-642.
Weiss, G., & Hechtman, L. T. (1993). Hyperactive children grown up: ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults. Guilford Press.
Zaidman?Zait, A., Mirenda, P., Zumbo, B. D., Wellington, S., Dua, V., & Kalynchuk, K. (2010). An item response theory analysis of the Parenting Stress Index?Short Form with parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(11), 1269-1277
In-Text Citation: (Anpalagan et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Anpalagan, S. a/p, Yusop, Y. M., Zainudin, Z. N., Othman, W. N. W., Kari, D. N. F. M., & Surat, S. (2021). Parental Stress among Parents of Children with Learning Disabilities. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(12), 63–77.
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode