Psychological stress in adoptive parents of special-needs children.
This article focuses on the nature and extent of parental stress among adoptive parents of special-needs children. In-depth face-to-face interviews of adoptive parents of 35 children were conducted, on average, four months postplacement (but before adoption). One-year follow-up interviews were conducted with parents of 15 (43%) of these children. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected, including parenting stress scores. Results indicated higher than average levels of stress, particularly on subscales related to parent-child dysfunctional interactions and to raising a difficult child. Increased stress levels were associated with poorer family adjustment and with higher levels of child behavior problems. Stress levels remained mostly unchanged over the year. Responses to open-ended questions identified five stress categories: child characteristics, parent-child interactions, family cohesion, parental adjustment, and adoptions service issues. Practice and research implications are discussed.
McGlone
Katalina
K
Social Welfare Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA.
Santos
Linda
L
Kazama
Lynne
L
Fong
Rowena
R
Mueller
Charles
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012947:Social Work; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology