Parenting Stress and Self-Compassion in Parents of Children with and Without Psychological Disorders

Parents of children with psychological disorders experience heightened levels of stress compared to parents of children without psychological disorders. Self-compassion may serve as a protective factor for parenting stress. There is limited research evaluating stress and self-compassion in parents of children with various psychological disorders. This study examined and compared parenting stress and self-compassion in parents of children with and without psychological disorders. Parents (N =220) completed self-report questionnaires for parenting stress and self-compassion. Parents of children with psychological disorders reported higher levels of parenting stress compared to parents of children without psychological disorders (F-(1,F-218) =9.60, p < .01) with a small effect size (partial eta(2) = 0.04), but similar levels of self-compassion (F-(1,F-218)=0.008, p=.93). Self-compassion was significantly inversely associated with parenting stress for both parents of children with psychological disorders (r = -.35, p=.01) and parents of children without psychological disorders (r = -.21, p=.05). Similarly, self-compassion significantly predicted reduced parenting stress for both parents of children with psychological disorders and parents of children without psychological disorders, but self-compassion accounted for more of the variance in parenting stress for parents of children with psychological disorders. The results suggest self-compassion may be a protective factor for parenting stress in parents of children with and without psychological disorders. Fostering greater self-compassion in parents of children with psychological disorders may help to combat the additional challenges of raising these children. Future studies may explore the protective factor of self-compassion through compassion-based interventions with parents.