Disease-related stress in parents of children who are overweight: relations with parental anxiety and childhood psychosocial functioning

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents, a measure of chronic disease-related parental stress, were examined in a sample of 72 children and adolescents who are overweight. The correlations between disease-related parental stress and general parenting stress, parental and child anxiety and children's behavioral and psychological maladjustment were examined. The results demonstrated excellent internal consistency and modest correlations with a measure of general parenting stress. Significant and positive relations of medium to large effect sizes between disease-related parenting stress and internalizing and externalizing maladjustment were found. Internalizing and externalizing behavior moderated the relations between disease-related parenting stress and parental distress. Recommendations for use of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents in clinical settings and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords

children obesity Pediatric Inventory for Parents reliability validity

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