title: Predictors of stress in parents of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
abstract: This study examined child characteristics and family factors as predictors of stress in the biological or adoptive parents of 6- to 12-year-old children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Impaired executive functioning, poorer adaptive functioning, externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, and adoptive parent status all made significant and independent contributions to the prediction of higher levels of child domain stress, as reported by parents on the Parenting Stress Index. Biological parent status and fewer family resources were associated with higher levels of parent domain stress. Teacher ratings of the child"s executive functioning impairments and externalizing and internalizing behavior problems also were associated with parent reports of child domain stress. Findings highlight the need to provide support not only to children with FASDs, but to their caregivers as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA. bpaley@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Blair
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paley
authors.forename: Mary J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'connor
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frankel
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marquardt
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology