Relationship of Parental Overprotection and Parenting Stress to Psychological Distress in Parents of Children with Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis: a Cross Illness Comparison

Abstract

A relatively unexplored area in the literature concerns how specific parental psychological variables, such as parental overprotection and parenting stress, are associated with psychological distress in different illness groups. This study examines the relationships between parental overprotection, parenting stress, and psychological distress in parents of children with asthma and parents of children with cystic fibrosis. Differences in parenting variables both between and within asthma and CF groups are of particular interest. The study's results indicate that parenting stress is significantly correlated with general psychological distress in both illness groups, accounting for a large portion of the variability in general psychological distress. The need for future research to focus specifically on parenting stress in the context of the chronically ill child is paramount. In other words, research on parenting stress may serve to guide the development of more effective disease-specific interventions.