Parenting Stress Index: Einsatz bei Müttern sprachentwicklungsgestörter Kinder

The aim of the present study was to get a differentiated view of stress experience of mothers of children with a specific language impairment with a standardised questionnaire. Our sample consisted of 63 mothers of language impaired children between 3;0 and 6;5 years consecutively recruited at the University-ENT clinic of Vienna. Parenting stress was assessed by the "Parenting Stress Index" of Abidin (1995) and the results were compaired to mothers of a control group matched by sex and age of the children. The results showed significant mean differences between mothers of the clinical and the control group. In nearly all subscales mothers of language impaired children have higher stress scores than mothers of the control group. 68% of mothers of the clinical group are exposed to above-average stress levels whereas only 1,5% of mothers of children with normal language development show above-average parenting stress. For a successful intervention on children with a specific language impairment it seems to be very important to identify parental Stressors and to treat and support parents too.