Explaining the Parental Stress of Fathers and Mothers Caring for a Child with Intellectual Disability: a Double ABCX Model

Background: Twenty variables based on the Double ABCX Model of adaptation and selected on the basis of previous research were chosen to explain the parental stress of the mothers (n = 116) and fathers (n = 120) of children with an intellectual disability (age range = 1- 10 years).

Methods: Principal component analysis, rotated into varimax-criterion, was done separately for mothers and fathers. The solution containing eight factors was considered best for both groups. They accounted for more than 70% of the total variance of the original variables. These eight orthogonal components were then entered into a stepwise regression analysis that was done separately for mothers and fathers.

Results: The multiple regression equations obtained explained 72% of the variance in maternal stress and 78% of the variance in paternal stress. The equations for mothers and fathers contained six and seven components, respectively.

Conclusions: The variables used in the present study were highly successful in accounting for parental stress. The results confirm the importance of intervening factors in explaining the stress. The single most important predictor of parental stress was the negative definition of the situation. In mothers, the negative definition was associated with the behavioural problems of the child while, in fathers it was connected with the experienced social acceptance of the child.