Sources of Parenting Stress for Depressed and Nondepressed Mothers of Infants.

Studied child- and parent-focused parenting stress in 71 clinically depressed and 53 nondepressed mothers of infants 3 to 13 months old. Depressed mothers reported more parenting stress and daily hassles, less marital harmony, and less social support than nondepressed mothers, and they were rated as less competent with their infant. Mothers of temperamentally difficult infants reported greater stress, and depressed women with difficult infants were highest in child-focused stress. In hierarchical multiple-regression analyses predicting child-focused stress, infant difficulty was the only significant predictor for depressed women, but nondepressed women's child-focused stress was predicted by both the demographic composite and infant difficulty. The depressed group's parent-related stress was predicted by depression level, infant temperament, and marital discord, but for nondepressed mothers, only the demographic factors and infant temperament were significant predictors. Depressed women reporting greater child- and parent-focused stress were independently rated as less competent parents than those under less stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Clinical Child Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)