Journal of Intellectual Disability Research

969

doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01207.x

volume 53 part 12 pp 969980 december 2009

Parenting stress in mothers of adults with an intellectual

disability: parental cognitions in relation to child
characteristics and family support
jir_1207

969..980

C. Hill & J. Rose

University of Birmingham, School of Psychology, Birmingham, UK

Abstract
Background There is a body of evidence that indicates that the cognitions of parents of children with
intellectual disabilities (ID) play an important role
in influencing parental stress. However, there is a
paucity of evidence about the experience of parents
of adult children with ID. This study sought to
apply a model of parenting stress to mothers of
adults with ID. Of particular interest were the
parental cognitions of parenting self-esteem and
parental locus of control.
Method Face-to face interviews were administered
with 44 mothers of adults with ID. They completed
the Vineland Adaptive and Maladaptive Behaviour
Scale, the Family Support Scale, the Parenting
Sense of Competence Scale, a shortened version of
the Parental Locus of Control Scale and the Parenting Stress Index.
Results Correlations were observed between
parenting stress and the other study variables.
Regression analysis revealed that parental cognitive
variables predicted 61% of the variance in parenting
stress. Parenting satisfaction, a subscale of the
measure of parenting sense of competence,
Correspondence: Dr Chris Hill, School of Psychology, University
of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK (e-mail:
chrisincumbria@hotmail.com).

mediated the relationships between adaptive behaviour and parenting stress and between family
support and parenting stress.
Conclusions These results indicate the importance
of cognitive variables in the stress of mothers of
adults with ID. Potential avenues of future research
might focus on the experience of fathers and the
impact of positive perceptions as a cognitive factor.
Keywords carers, intellectual disability, learning
disability, parents, stress

A significant area of research within the field of

intellectual disabilities (ID) has focused on understanding the impact that a person with ID has upon
their family. The majority of this work has focused
on children with ID and their families (e.g. Dumas
et al. 1991; Floyd & Gallagher 1997; DeaterDeckard 1998; Stores et al. 1998; Ong et al. 1999;
Chavira et al. 2000; Dunn et al. 2001; Weiss 2002).
Somewhat less attention has been paid to the wellbeing of parents of adults with ID. Given the need
that many people with ID have for supported living
arrangements, many families take the decision to
have their offspring continue to live with them after
one might expect a typically developing son or
daughter to leave the family home (Fujiura 1998;
Seltzer et al. 2001). Chen et al. (2001) reported that

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

in their research into the health status of older

mothers of adults with ID, their health compared
favourably with that of the national norms within
the United States, suggesting that caring for an
adult with ID does not significantly affect the health
of the parents. However, findings of studies on caregiving burden are in contrast to this. For example,
Heller et al. (1992) investigated 489 family caregivers of adults with ID who were over the age of
30. Although these caregivers reported less burden
compared with caregivers of younger children with
ID, the reported burden was still significant.
However, Heller et al. (1997) sampled 112 families,
50% of whom had residential placements and 50%
of whom continued to live at home. They reported
less caregiving burden for mothers and fathers of
adults who lived outside the home, compared with
parents whose offspring continued to live within the
family home. In a more qualitative approach,
Shearn & Todd (1997) interviewed 33 mothers of
individuals with ID. The data suggested that there
was a mixed picture for parents, with long-term
caregiving involving both stability and change. As
many mothers (and their children) grow older, they
find it difficult to meet the demands of parenting
and for some there was an experience of having
their physical resources and enthusiasm reduced,
causing some difficulties in them fulfilling their role
as a parent. Thus it would appear, like mothers of
children with ID, mothers of adults with ID also
experience caregiving burden and stress.
Mash & Johnston (1990) proposed a model of
parenting stress that integrates three domains of
characteristics that they hypothesise might interact
with parentchild stress. These are child characteristics, parent characteristics and environmental
characteristics. In their application of these to the
study of parents of hyperactive children, Mash and
Johnston suggested that parental cognitive variables
may have both a direct effect on parental stress and
may mediate the relationships between child and
environmental characteristics and parenting stress.
Therefore, Mash and Johnston appear to provide a
central role to parental cognitions in their model of
parenting stress.
Many child variables have been found to hold
relationships with parenting stress. These include
aetiological group (Hodapp et al. 1997), communication (Frey et al. 1989) and social skills (Smith

et al. 2001). Two child variables of particular interest to the present study are the adaptive behaviour
and behaviour problems of the individual with ID.
With regard to adaptive behaviour, evidence consistently demonstrates an association between adaptive
behaviour and parenting stress (e.g. Boyce et al.
1991; Smith et al. 2001; Hastings 2002). This
finding remains for adult offspring although the evidence base is smaller. Weiss et al. (2003) interviewed 90 mothers and 57 fathers of 97 individuals
with ID. The mean age of the children was 24.9
years. They found that lower levels of adaptive functioning predicted higher levels of parenting stress.
Thus, the findings in both the child and adult literature appear consistent in terms of direction of
the correlation.
Within the child literature, there is also evidence
for behaviour problems as a significant predictor of
parenting stress both cross-sectionally and over time
(e.g. Hodapp et al. 1997; Baker et al. 2002; Beck
et al. 2004; Lecavalier et al. 2006). This finding is
also reflected in the adult offspring literature. In
their 1997 study, Heller et al. sampled 112 families,
split equally between home and residential living
arrangements. They found that maladaptive behaviour was related to caregiver burden. Although individuals who live with their parents often show the
lowest rates of behaviour problems when compared
with people who live in group homes and
community-run projects (Bruininks et al. 1994),
over a third continued to exhibit challenging behaviour. More recently, Orsmond et al. (2003) utilised
a longitudinal methodology with 193 motheradult
child dyads living together in the family home.
When the 6-year study commenced, the mean age
of the adult offspring was 35 years of age. At the
outset of the study, almost 30% of the sample had
clinically significant levels of behaviour problems,
while about 25% had no behaviour problems. The
authors also reported a bidirectional relationship
between the variables, revealing that initial levels
and changes over time in behaviour problems predicted changes in maternal well-being and initial
levels and changes over time in maternal well-being
predicted changes in behaviour problems.
A number of environmental variables have been
implicated in stress outcomes for parents. These
include socio-economic status ( Willoughby &
Glidden 1995) and cultural background (Blacher

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

et al. 1997). Of particular interest in the present

study is the role of social support. Cameron et al.
(1991) sampled 147 mothers of adults with ID in
North America. Correlations indicated that family
support was significantly negatively related to
maternal stress. Using hierarchical regression analysis, they found that although family support
approached significance, it failed to account for
unique variance when examined alongside the other
predictors. In a more recent study, Hong et al.
(2001) studied 251 older women (aged 55-87 years)
who had an adult child with ID to examine the psychological consequences of change in social support
during the later years of the life. For women over
age 65, an increase in the amount of emotional
support from her social network was predictive of
an increase in psychological well-being, but change
in the number of members of her social network
was not related to change in well-being. For women
aged 65 or younger, an increase in both the size of
their social support network and the amount of
emotional support received predicted well-being
only for those who were not legal guardians for
their adult child. Ben-Zur et al. (2005) sampled
100 mothers of adults with ID, 50% of whom were
living in the community and 50% who were living
in the family home. They found that social support
was negatively correlated with stress, although it
did not significantly differ between the two groups.
In summary, access to social support, including
family support, is associated with lower parenting
stress.
Parent variables associated with parenting stress
include coping strategies (Kim et al. 2003), positive
perceptions (Hastings & Taunt 2002) and cognitions. However, there is a paucity of research where
parental cognitive variables have been measured in
parents of adults with ID. The child literature offers
some clues about the relationships we might expect
between cognitions and stress in parents of adults
with ID. There appears to be growing evidence that
parental cognitive variables such as self-efficacy/
sense of competence (Bandura 1977; Hastings &
Brown 2002) and locus of control (Hassall et al.
2005) play important roles in determining outcome
within the context of the parentchild relationship.
Both relate to expectations about the future, yet
locus of control and self-efficacy are distinct constructs. For example, a parent may believe that

using a particular parenting technique would minimise a childs behaviour problems (indicating an
internal locus of control; parents are able to influence their childs behaviour). However, they may
not believe themselves capable of implementing
the technique with their own child (indicating low
self-efficacy).
Hastings & Brown (2002) found that self-efficacy
functioned as a mediator between behaviour problems and anxiety and depression for mothers.
Hassall et al. found that parental sense of competence was negatively correlated with parenting
stress, that is, mothers with greater self-esteem
reported lower levels of parenting stress. They also
found that mothers with a more internal locus of
control tended to experience lower levels of parenting stress. Parental locus of control also mediated
the relationships between family support and
parenting stress. Smith (1996), testing a two-factor
model of caregiving appraisal and psychological
well-being, examined 225 older mothers (mean
age = 70.3 years) of adults (mean age = 38.4 years)
with ID. Among other variables, they measured cognitive appraisals of caregiver satisfaction and
reported that greater caregiving satisfaction
increased the positive dimension of well-being.
There was also evidence that caregiving appraisals
mediated the relationship between stressors and
psychological well-being. In other work (Cameron
et al. 1991) mothers sense of mastery, similar to
sense of competence, was negatively related to the
stress of parenting an adult with ID who lived at
home. From the child and adult literature, parental
cognitions appear to hold direct relationships with
parenting stress and also, in some cases, act as a
mediating variable between external variables such
as family support and parenting stress.
Although disparate research has provided support
for the pathways hypothesised in the model, only
one study within the field of ID has employed this
model to investigate such relationships. Hassall et al.
(2005) took the Mash and Johnston model of
parenting stress and applied it to parents of children with ID. They examined parenting sense of
competence and parental locus of control as parental cognitive variables, alongside child characteristics represented by adaptive behaviour and
maladaptive behaviour, and environmental characteristics represented by family support. They found

2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

that the majority of the variance in parenting stress

was explained by parental locus of control, parenting satisfaction (a scale of self-efficacy) and maladaptive behaviour. They also found that the
relationship between family support and parenting
stress was mediated by parental locus of control.
Currently, there is no research that has applied
Mash and Johnstons model to stress in parents of
adults with ID. Consequently, the purpose of the
present research was to investigate the applicability
of this model, using the variables examined by
Hassall et al. (2005), to mothers of adults with ID
who continue to live within the family home. This
would provide distinct benefits. First, the research is
adding to the evidence base for parents of adults
with ID, a comparatively under researched population. Second, by using a similar methodology, the
experiences reported by mothers of adults with ID
may be compared with those experiences reported
by mothers of children with ID (Hassall et al.
2005). At this juncture it is important to note that
neither Hassall and colleagues nor the current study
claims that the selected variables are an exhaustive
list. Rather, they are important variables that reflect
each domain in what are exploratory studies. In
testing the applicability of Mash and Johnstons
model of parenting stress, the present study had
three aims. The first was to examine the relationships among the variables in the model. A second
aim of the current study was to establish the relative importance of the variables in predicting
parenting stress. Finally, the third aim was to investigate the potential mediating effect of parental cognitive variables on the relationships between child
and environmental characteristics and parenting
stress, as hypothesised within the model. Because of
the lack of previous research testing these latter two
issues, no hypotheses are made for these elements
of the research.

Method
Participants
Forty-four mothers participated in the research and
were recruited from a database including information on people with ID that covered a single urban
district in the UK. This area is comparable with the
UK on a range of indicators (ONS, 2006), includ-

ing mean annual household income (UK

28 000, sampled area 28 114), unemployment
(UK 5%, sampled area 5.9%) and lone parent
households (UK 6.4%, sampled area 5.5%). The
age of mothers in the sample ranged from 51 to 84
years old, with a mean of 68.67 (SD = 8.19 years).
In comparison, the mean age of mothers of people
over 30 for the entire database was 72.5 years old.
The ages of their adult offspring ranged from 30 to
59 years old, with a mean of 40.05 (SD = 6.92
years). In comparison, the mean age of adult offspring over 30 on the entire database was 49 years
old. All the mothers spoke English as their first language and were of white European ethnic background. Of the 44 in the sample, 24 were living
with a partner, and 20 were either divorced or
widowed.

Measures
Adaptive behaviour was assessed using the Survey
Form of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales II
(VABS, Sparrow et al. 2005). This semi-structured
interview measure contains 297 items that provide
an assessment of adaptive behaviour, useful for
determining areas of strength and weakness. It consists of four domains: socialisation, communication,
daily living skills and motor skills. The items are
ordered in developmental sequence and not all 297
items are asked in the assessment. Instead, the
interviewer estimates the adaptive level and asks in
detail about items in this range, establishing basal
and ceiling figures, which provides an accurate estimate of the individuals abilities. An overall composite score can be derived and provides an overall
index of an individual adaptive skills. Sparrow et al.
(2005) report internal-consistency reliability of at
least 0.90 for 148 of the 154 sub-domain reliabilities. In terms of testretest reliability the average
domain reliability was between 0.88 and 0.92.
The Vineland Maladaptive Behavior Domain
(Sparrow et al. 1984) was included as a measure of
the individuals level of behavioural difficulties. Raw
scores are used in the analysis of the data. Sparrow
et al. report split-half reliability between 0.77 and
0.88.
Social support was measured by the Family
Support Scale (FSS, Dunst et al. 1984) and was
used to measure the social support available to the

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

mother. It consists of five subscales that include

support from partner and partners family, informal
kinship support, formal kinship support, social
organisations and professional services. A total score
is obtained by summing the five subscale scores.
Dunst et al. (1994) report Cronbachs Alpha for
internal consistency to be 0.79.
Maternal self-efficacy was measured using the
Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC,
Gibaud-Wallaston & Wandersman 1978, as cited in
Johnston & Mash 1989). It contains 16 items that
are scored on a six-point Likert scale ranging from
strongly agree to strongly disagree. The present
study changed the item wordings from child to
son/daughter. Johnston & Mash (1989) confirmed
the factor structure of the initial test construction
and identified two principal factors, a measure of
parenting satisfaction (PSOC-S), defined as the persons liking of the parenting role and parenting efficacy (PSOC-E), defined as the persons perceived
competence in the parenting role. They reported
Cronbachs Alpha for internal consistency to be
0.79 for the PSOC-S and 0.76 for the PSOC-E.
The Parental Locus of Control Short Form
Revised (PLOC; Hassall et al. 2005) consisted of 47
items rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging
from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Hassall
et al. (2005) shortened the original test to reduce
the burden on the participants, based on the findings of Campis et al. (1986). This resulting measure
comprises four subscales and consists of 24 items,
half of which are reversed scored with higher scores
indicating a more external locus of control. The
measure consists of four subscales, Parental Efficacy
(PLOC-PE), Parental Responsibility (PLOC-PR),
Child Control of Parents Life (PLOC-CC), and
Parental Control of Childs Behaviour (PLOC-PC).
To clarify, the scale of Parental Efficacy appears to
measure outcome expectations (e.g. I am often able
to predict my childs behaviour in situations), while
the similar sounding PSOC-E is measuring efficacy
expectations (e.g. I would make a fine model for a
new mother/father to follow so that she/he could
learn to be a good parent). Hassall and colleagues
reported internal consistency for the total score at
0.82. Of the subscales, Parental Efficacy was 0.62,
Parental Responsibility was 0.68, Childs Control of
Parents Life was 0.81 and Parental Control of
Childs Behaviour was 0.86. Campis et al. (1986)

also demonstrated good construct and discriminant

validity for the whole scale.
The final measure was the Parenting Stress Index
Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin 1990). This measure
reflects the stressors experienced by the mother of
the adult with ID and their perceived efficacy in
dealing with them. The PSI-SF provides a total
stress score and three subscale scores. These are
Parental Distress (PSI-PD), Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction (PSI-CDI) and Difficult Child
(PSI-DC). Abidin reported Cronbachs Alpha for
internal reliability between 0.80 and 0.91 for the
various scales.

Procedure
A National Health Survey Local Research Ethics
Committee granted ethical approval prior to the
commencement of the study. Potential participants
were identified through a local Social Services
Learning Disability Database. This resource holds
information regarding people with ID and their
families who are known to Social Services. The criteria for the search were that the person with the
ID was over the age of 30, continued to reside at
the parental home, and that their mother lived at
the same address. Two hundred and twenty-two
motherchild dyads were identified and each was
sent an information pack. This pack included a
covering letter from Social Services, explaining that
they were facilitating the research and the reasons
the potential participant had been contacted. The
pack also contained a second letter from the
research team that detailed the nature of the
research, the value of their involvement and how to
contact the researchers for further information.
There was also a pamphlet explaining the nature of
the research.
Due to data protection reasons, the research team
did not have access to the details or addresses of
the potential participants and the initial information
packs were addressed and sent by the Social Services team. To take part, participants needed to opt
in to the research by completing a consent form
and sending it back to the research team.
Forty-six mothers signed and returned the
consent form, agreeing to take part. One mother
was taken into hospital and was not interviewed. We
were unable to get a full data set from another

2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

volume 53 part 12 december 2009

Journal of Intellectual Disability Research

974

-0.39**
0.25
0.13
-0.16
-0.40**
0.26
-0.07
0.12
-0.20
-0.43**
-0.51**
-0.61**
0.53**
0.66**
0.74**
0.84**
-0.27
0.41**
0.19
-0.08
-0.16
0.26
-0.07
0.16
-0.04
-0.36*
-0.53**
-0.59**
0.34*
0.43**
0.49**
-0.44**
0.04
0.10
-0.07
-0.38*
0.39**
-0.15
0.18
-0.14
-0.21
-0.32*
-0.35*
0.18
0.32*
-0.20
0.20
0.06
-0.18
-0.31*
-0.07
0.01
0.02
-0.24
-0.48**
-0.30
-0.47**
0.23
-0.23
-0.08
-0.10
-0.12
-0.40**
-0.05
0.01
-0.09
-0.29
-0.20
-0.19
-0.25
0.39**
-0.20
-0.01
0.23
0.45**
-0.10
0.20
-0.03
0.38*
0.64**
0.88**
0.38*
-0.25
0.08
0.19
0.48**
-0.06
0.20
-0.05
0.38*
0.20
0.21
0.003
-0.15
0.16
0.16
-0.10
0.09
0.03
0.18
-0.11
0.001
-0.17
Adaptive behaviour
Maladaptive behaviour
FSS number
FSS partner
FSS informal kinship
FSS formal kinship
FSS social organisations
FSS professional support
FSS total
PSOC parental efficacy
PSOC satisfaction
PSOC total
PLOC parental efficacy
PLOC parental responsibility
PLOC child control
PLOC parental control
PLOC total
Parenting stress
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

FSS, Family Support Scale; PSOC, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale; PLOC, Parental Locus of Control.
* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01.

0.26
0.01
0.64**
0.49**
0.79**
0.30*
0.67**
0.25
-0.03
0.27
0.09
-0.14
-0.04
0.20
-0.24
0.32*
-0.11
0.42**
0.26
0.52**
0.14

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
Measure

Table 1 Correlation matrix for study variables

Our primary research question was to establish the

relative importance of the variables in predicting
parenting stress. From the correlational analysis, it
was clear that the total scores of the VABS (composite), Vineland Maladaptive Behaviour Scale, FSS
and PLOC were all significantly associated with the
total score of the PSI. With regard to PSOC, the
satisfaction subscale was used as a predictor rather
than the PSOC-total. Hassall et al. (2005) employed
this approach and highlighted that the two PSOC
subscales assess conceptually distinct constructs and
may relate differently to PSI-total (see also Johnston
& Mash 1989). In the current study, PSOC-E did
not correlate significantly with any of the child and
environment variables or stress, while the pattern of
correlations for PSOC-S mirrored those for the
total PSOC score. Thus, correlational analyses in
the present study also support the suggestion that
the two PSOC dimensions are conceptually distinct
and that PSOC-S is the most important parental
sense of competence variable in the relationship
with PSI-total.
Therefore, these five variables were entered as
independent variables into a linear regression using
the enter method, with PSI-total as the dependent
variable. Table 2 provides a summary of these

Regression

-0.18
0.04
0.34*
-0.03
-0.02

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

KolmogorovSmirnov tests were conducted to

explore the distributions of the study variables.
Only the subscales and composite score for the
VABS were not normally distributed. The data were
analysed using three steps. First, correlations were
used to explore univariate relationships between the
variables. Where the variables were not normally
distributed, Spearmans Rho was used and where
the variables were normally distributed, Pearsons
correlation coefficients were used (Table 1). Second,
the variables that correlated significantly with
parenting stress were entered into a regression, to
establish the relative predictive utility of the variables. Third, where the model indicated possible
mediation, and where there was sufficient evidence,
these processes were investigated.

0.36*
0.12
0.35*
0.21

17

Results

0.02
-0.35*
0.59**

18

mother. Therefore, 44 completed data sets were

available for analysis, a response rate of 20%.

-0.49**
0.40**
-0.02
-0.20
-0.41**
0.17
-0.46**
0.24
-0.33*
-0.25
-0.66**
-0.63**
0.10
0.38*
0.47**
0.62**
0.60**

C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

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Journal of Intellectual Disability Research

975
C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

Table 2 Summary of regression analysis for prediction of maternal stress

VABS-Composite
Vineland Maladaptive
FSS-total
PSOC-S
PLOC-total

Beta

Standard error

Beta

Significance

-0.24
1.91
-0.22
-0.90
0.41

0.15
0.946
0.24
0.32
0.19

-0.18
0.22
-0.10
-0.36
0.27

-1.59
2.02
-0.90
-2.78
2.21

0.119
0.051
0.377
0.008
0.033

R = 0.78, R2 = 0.61, F5,43 = 11.71, P < 0.001.

VABS, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale; FSS, Family Support Scale; PSOC, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale; PLOC, Parental
Locus of Control.

results. The R2 value indicates that the model predicts 61% of the variance in parenting stress.
PSOC-S was a significant negative predictor of
parenting stress. That is, the lower a mothers satisfaction, the higher her stress. PLOC-total was a
positive predictor, indicating that a greater external
locus of control predicts more parenting stress.
Examining the beta weights, it is evident that
PSOC-S explained the most variance in the model,
following by PLOC-total.

Mediation analysis
The Mash and Johnston model of parenting stress
also identifies potential mediation within the model.
In light of recommendations set out by Baron &
Kenny (1986), the results of the regression analysis
coupled with the correlations suggest that parental
cognitions may mediate the relationships between
child and environmental characteristics and stress.
Specifically, though adaptive behaviour and social
support correlated significantly with stress, they no
longer predicted this outcome when entered into
the regression alongside the satisfaction subscale of
parenting sense of competence and parental locus
of control. Furthermore, adaptive behaviour and
social support both correlated with the parenting
satisfaction aspect of sense of competence. From
this, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that satisfaction may mediate the relationships between
adaptive behaviour and social support, and stress. It
was not appropriate to examine locus of control as
a mediator of the child/environmental characteristics parent stress relationship. The correlations
between child/environmental characteristics and

locus of control were non-significant, meaning that

Baron & Kennys (1986) guidelines for conducting
mediation analyses, in this case, were not satisfied.
According to Baron and Kenny, full mediation is
indicated when the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable (when controlling
for the mediator) is zero. However, this rarely
happens in psychological research. Jose (2008) recommends an alternative for estimating full/partial
mediation. He suggests that partial mediation is
indicated when a significant Sobel (1982) figure is
present and the ratio between the indirect and
direct effect is less than 0.80. Full mediation can be
said to have occurred when one obtains a significant Sobel figure and a ratio greater than 0.80.
The first mediating relationship investigated was
satisfaction (a subscale of parenting sense of competence) as a mediator of the relationship between
adaptive behaviour and parenting stress. If mediation were occurring, we would expect to see a
reduction in the beta weight from Regression 1 to
Regression 3 in Table 3.
Table 3 illustrates the reduction in the beta
weight from Regression 1 to Regression 3. Partial
mediation is indicated because the ratio between
the direct and indirect effect is 0.15. The Sobel test
was significant thus indicating that the partially
mediated relationship was significant.
The second mediating relationship (Table 4) to
be investigated was satisfaction (a subscale of
parenting sense of competence) as a mediator
between social support and parenting stress. Again,
if mediation were occurring, we would expect to see
a reduction in the beta weight from Regression 1 to
Regression 3.

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

Table 3 Summary of regression analyses for satisfaction as a mediator of adaptive behaviourstress relationship

Regression

Predictors

Outcomes

B(SE)

1
2
3

Adaptive behaviour
Adaptive behaviour
Adaptive behaviour
Satisfaction

Stress
Satisfaction
Stress
Stress

-0.63
0.20
-0.36
-1.38

(0.17)
(0.074)
(0.16)
(0.30)

Sobel test

Beta

-0.49
0.38
-0.28
-0.55

-3.62**
2.66*
-2.34*
-4.59**
-2.29*

* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01.

Regression

Predictors

Outcomes

B(SE)

1
2
3

Social support
Social support
Social support
Satisfaction

Stress
Satisfaction
Stress
Stress

-0.72
0.32
-0.22
-1.55

(0.31)
(0.12)
(0.27)
(0.32)

Sobel test

Beta

-0.33
0.38
-0.10
-0.62

-2.30*
2.63*
-0.81
-4.89***
2.32*

Table 4 Summary of regression analyses

for satisfaction as mediator of family
supportstress relationship

* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.00.

Partial mediation is indicated because the ratio

between the direct and indirect effect is 0.23. The
partial mediation was found to be significant using
the Sobel test.

Discussion
Mash & Johnston (1990) suggests that child characteristics, environmental characteristics and parental
characteristics all play a role in the stress experienced by parents. In the present study, child characteristics were represented by both adaptive and
maladaptive behaviour. There was evidence of association between adaptive behaviour and parenting
stress. This is consistent with other research ( Weiss
et al. 2003) with adults with ID. There was also evidence of an association between behaviour difficulties and the stress experienced by the mother. This
is a consistent finding with both children and adults
(e.g. Haveman et al. 1997; Heller et al. 1997; Baker
et al. 2002; Beck et al. 2004).
The association of environmental characteristics
with parenting stress is also demonstrated with correlations between social support and parenting
stress. Mothers with greater levels of social support
experience lower levels of parenting stress. It would

appear that informal kinship and social organisations are particularly important, which is consistent
with the findings of Hassall et al. (2005). They also
highlighted that a subscale of the FSS that looked
at the number of supports available to mothers was
not correlated with any other variable, a finding
supported by data from the present study. We
concur with their conclusion that the most important element of support is how helpful the mother
perceives the help to be, rather than the amount of
help available.
Correlational analyses between parenting characteristics and parenting stress lend further support to
the utility of the Mash & Johnston (1990) model.
Mothers with higher levels of satisfaction, as measured by the PSOC-S, had lower levels of parenting
stress. The PSOC-S is regarded as an affective
dimension of parenting ( Johnston & Mash 1989).
In contrast, the PSOC-E, a measure of the mothers
sense of her efficacy in parenting, was not significantly correlated with any parenting stress subscales
or total.
The PLOC was the other variable measuring
parental cognitions. The PLOC-total score and a
number of subscales were correlated with parenting
stress, indicating that mothers with a more internal

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

locus of control reported lower levels of parenting

stress. This finding is consistent with previous
research (e.g. Frey et al. 1989; Hassall et al. 2005).
Only one subscale of the PLOC, parental efficacy,
did not correlate with any of the parenting stress
total or subscales. It may be that as parents age,
they feel less effective as a parent, that they have
tried numerous strategies to manage the challenges
of parenting and feel these have been unsuccessful.
The relative impact of the parent variables was
further investigated using regression analysis. Parental locus of control and parenting satisfaction
accounted for the most variance in parenting stress.
The beta weights for these variables indicate that,
taking into account the other variables, parental
locus of control accounted for 36% of the variance,
while parenting satisfaction accounted for 27% of
the variance. Both these variables were significant
predictors of parenting stress. Maladaptive behaviour approached significance, although in this case
it was not a significant predictor. This is in contrast
to Hassall et al. (2005) who reported that maladaptive behaviour was a significant predictor, along
with the parental cognition variables. A larger
sample size may have caused this variable to
become significant. However, an alternative explanation may be that as mothers age, behaviour problems in their offspring become less of a problem.
In addition to maladaptive behaviour, both family
support and the adaptive behaviour of the son or
daughter were not significant predictors in the
regression. Again, Hassall et al. (2005) reported that
when entered into a regression together, family
support failed to significantly predict parenting
stress. With regard to maladaptive behaviour, previous research with children (Hastings 2002) found
that adaptive behaviour is less important as a predictor of parenting stress than behaviour problems
(maladaptive behaviour), when controlled for in
regression analyses. The present research appears to
extend this finding to adult offspring.
Finally, given the model hypothesised, such relationships mediating effects were analysed. Using
techniques set out by Baron & Kenny (1986), two
mediating relationships were found. Parenting satisfaction significantly partially mediated the relationship between adaptive behaviour and parenting
stress. That is, although adaptive behaviour still has
a direct effect on parenting stress, it also has an

indirect effect on parenting satisfaction that in turn

affects parenting stress. Parenting satisfaction also
mediated a second relationship within the model. It
acted as a partial mediator between family support
and parenting stress. Although family support had
some direct relationship with parenting stress, it
also worked indirectly through parenting satisfaction. Hassall et al. (2005) used partial correlations
to establish that parental locus of control mediated
the effect of family support on parenting stress.
They found no evidence to indicate that parenting
sense of competence variables, including satisfaction, were functioning as mediating variables, and is
thus in contrast to the findings of the present study.
One explanation may be that due to the age of the
sample, some of the mothers from the current
research were beginning to struggle with some of
their caring responsibilities due to age, decreasing
functional abilities and infirmity.
We conclude that parental characteristics, specifically cognitions, appear to play an important role in
parenting stress. Parenting stress is correlated with
both adaptive behaviour and family support but
these associations appear to be partially mediated
by parenting satisfaction. This further emphasises
the importance of psychological variables such as
parental cognitions on the maternal experience of
stress, with parenting sense of competence influencing stress both directly and as a mediating variable.
Maladaptive behaviour was not a significant predictor of parenting stress when entered into the
regression analysis, nor was it mediated by parental
cognitions. Therefore, it would appear to have a
direct, albeit weak relationship with parenting
stress, and particularly on the parenting stress subscale of difficult child.

Methodological issues and future research

There are a number of limitations of the present
research. All measures were self-report, that is, the
mother responded to all the measures. This could
result in some of relationships among variables
being a product of source variance. To address this
issue future research could use independent assessment of some variables. For example, adaptive and
maladaptive behaviour may be completed by day
services or an employer working with the adult with
ID, providing the individual accesses such services.

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

Another issue concerns potential overlap between

the measures used in the study. Respondents
reported on their perceived competence in the
parenting role, their locus of control and their
stress. From examination of the items in the stress
measure, the PSI-SF, there are a number of items
which relate to others on the parental cognition
measures. Thus, there is a possibility of finding a significant relationship caused by measurement overlap.
Inspection of correlations reveals significant relationships between the total stress score and the parental
locus of control total (r = 0.60), and the satisfaction
subscale of the parenting competence measure
(r = -0.66). However, while the significant relationships indicated these constructs are linked, the
strength of the correlation is not large enough to
suggest that they are measuring the same construct.
Other improvements could be made to the
present study, the sample size was fairly small.
According to the power calculation, only large
effects would be detected. A larger sample size may
be more sensitive with regard to detecting relationships between the variables that were close to significance. A larger sample size would have allowed
for a more detailed analysis of the subscales available. Running several regression equations containing large numbers of predictors with a small sample
size increases the likelihood of obtaining a Type I
error. Having a larger sample size would also allow
for an investigation of subgroups of mothers, for
example, those who had lost their husbands, or
whether having other children was a protective
factor against parenting stress. The return rate was
low indicating that the group in the study may not
be representative of the overall sample; however, it
is difficult to determine how this may have had an
impact on the results. The model hypothesises
bi-directional relationships between a number of the
variables, the cross-sectional design made a meaningful analysis of this impossible. Although a
number of correlations indicate these transactional
relationships may be present, the old adage correlation does not imply causation should be applied.
Future research could utilise a longitudinal design
to better assess the nature of these relationships. It
is important to note that the variables assessed were
not proposed as an exhaustive list, but chosen more
as a reflection of each of the domains (child characteristics, environmental characteristics, parental

characteristics), with their inclusion based on previous research. Future work with access to larger
samples may look to increase the number of predictor variables to allow for a more complex analysis of
other, salient variables.
Researchers considering similar work in the
future might also like to consider the experiences of
fathers in similar situations. The parenting experience of the father has often been neglected in ID
research, despite some differential effects have been
noted (e.g. Sloper & Turner 1991). More recently,
Hastings & Brown (2002) found that while mothers self-efficacy mediated the relationship between
behaviour problems and parenting stress, for
fathers, self-efficacy acted as a moderator in this
relationship. A focus on the fathers experience of
parenting an adult with ID would appear to be justified, based on previous research.
A key conclusion from this research is the apparent importance of addressing how mothers of
people with ID think about their offspring. The cognitive variables included in the present study, parental locus of control and parenting satisfaction,
accounted for the majority of the variance in predicting parenting stress. Parenting satisfaction significantly partially mediated the relationship
between adaptive behaviour and parenting stress
and between family support and parenting stress.
However, the other variables were still correlated
with maternal stress, and in the case of maladaptive
behaviour, approached significance in the regression
analysis. This suggests that although cognitive variables are key predictors of maternal stress, the other
study variables were still implicated. Therefore,
future interventions might be multifaceted. In a
more conventional vein, services may continue to
target behaviour problems by providing parent and
staff training and by working with the individual.
Services may also seek to ensure that families have
sufficient support from services and encourage
parents to access social support facilities like parent
groups. However, what the results from this
research indicate is that services might also target
parental cognitions, perhaps by using structured
cognitivebehavioural therapy with mothers around
the way they view themselves and the caring role,
and how they see their son or daughter. Thus a
holistic approach to intervention would appear to
be supported, where families are encouraged to

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C. Hill & J. Rose Parenting stress and parental cognitions

access support, where behavioural strategies are

employed with behavioural difficulties and where
parental cognitions are explored and worked with
where appropriate.

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Accepted 22 July 2009

2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd