ERIC Number: EJ1477385
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Aug
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1053-1890
EISSN: EISSN-1573-3319
Available Date: 2024-11-29
Parenting Stress, Child Behavior Problems, and Household Chaos: Examining Parenting in Early Head Start Families
Jessilyn M. Froelich1; Emily D. Gerstein1
Child & Youth Care Forum, v54 n4 p925-943 2025
Background: Parenting is a primary mechanism through which children develop. Much is known about how parenting influences development over time; it is also critical to know what shapes specific aspects of parenting, particularly for families with higher socioeconomic risk. Objective: The current study examined how parenting stress, child behavior problems, and household chaos at child age 2 were associated with maternal sensitivity and detachment at child age 3. Methods: Data were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study of mother-child dyads in EHS across ages 2 and 3. Analyses were conducted using linear regression, with child gender, single motherhood, and income-to-needs ratio as covariates, and longitudinal weighting to adjust for attrition and representation. Parenting stress was examined as a moderator and interactions were probed. Results: A significant three-way interaction among parenting stress, behavior problems, and household chaos on sensitivity found that at high levels of household chaos, as parenting stress increased, sensitivity decreased, but only for families experiencing low levels of behavior problems. In the detachment model, a two-way interaction indicated that at high levels of parenting stress, low levels of behavior problems were associated with more detachment. Additionally, as behavior problems increased, maternal detachment decreased, but only in the context of low household chaos. Conclusions: These findings add a nuanced understanding to existing determinants of parenting and cumulative risk literature, suggesting there is additional risk to parenting behaviors as risks in multiple domains converge, though these relationships are complex and higher risk in multiple domains was not always multiplicative.
Descriptors: Parents, Stress Variables, Child Rearing, Child Behavior, Behavior Problems, Family Environment, Early Intervention, Federal Programs, Social Services, Parent Child Relationship, Attachment Behavior
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Administration for Children and Families (DHHS), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Early Head Start
Grant or Contract Numbers: HHSP23320072914YC
Author Affiliations: 1University of Missouri–St. Louis, Department of Psychological Sciences, St. Louis, USA