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Changes in Parents’ Stress as Their Children Become Adolescents: A Validation of the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents
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by Melissa K. Wheatley and Diane E. Wille—Indiana University Southeast
Category: Stress | Developmental
This longitudinal assessment of changes in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress from their children’s mid-childhood to adolescence provides a unique inspection of the changes in stress experienced by both parents as children mature. Fifty-six mothers and fathers reported on parenting stress levels when their children were eight years of age and again when these children were 14 years of age. The Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA, Sheras, Abidin, & Konold, 1998) was found to be a valid upward extension of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI, Abidin, 1983). Results of the current study suggest relative stability of parenting stress as children mature from childhood to adolescence and show few differences in the stress levels experienced by mothers and fathers.