Parenting stress

It is a construct that relates to both psychological phenomena and to the human body's physiological state as a parent or caretaker of a child.

The goal is to provide a brief overview of the construct of parenting stress for a broader audience, given that the topic is likely to be of interest and importance across a wide range of medical and research contexts.

Parenting is a human universal across time and culture, and the construct connects with psychological development, socialization of children, education, health (including when either person in the parent-child dyad experiences other illness or injury), and a wealth of other issues.

[15] Selye demonstrated that a physiological response occurred in the body by phenomenological events like physical environmental stimuli.

[16] Since Deater-Deckard's work, there has been a rapid expansion of research documenting the linkage between parenting stress and a wide variety of important issues related to family functioning and child development and behavior.

The summary below provides a brief sampling to illustrate the breadth of impact parenting stress has on members of the core family system.

[17][18][19][20][21][22] Parental stress or burnout can manifest as an "emotional distancing from their children" due to overwhelming exhaustion among other causes.

Mothers who exhibit high levels of parenting stress also display a failure to care for their own health needs while also overusing pediatric healthcare services for their children.

[40][41][42] This article was adapted from the following source under a CC BY 4.0 license (2022) (reviewer reports): Richard Abidin; Logan Smith; Hannah Kim; Eric Youngstrom (21 June 2022).