The Relationship of Child Temperament, Combined Factors of Provider Relationship to Primary Parent and Reason for Placement, and Intensity of Parenting Task to Parenting Stress in Kinship Care Providers

Background: In the United States 2.3 million children live with relatives or non-relatives in foster care or informal placements outside foster care. Children in kinship care, have better outcomes than children in non-kinship foster care. However, providers experience stressors which can impact placement and well-being of both child and provider. The study’s aim was to expand the current understanding of factors that predict parenting stress in kinship care providers. Using a model, grounded in the literature, the study explored the relationship of child temperament, combined factors of relationship of the provider to the primary parent and reason for placement, and intensity of parenting tasks to parenting stress in kinship care providers.

Methods: Data was collected using a cross-sectional survey. The PSI-SF, EAS, and PDH scales, demographics, and open ended questions were administered to a convenience sample of 106 kinship care providers. The PSI-SF is 36 question parent stress survey that identifies measures of total stress and three subscales. The clinical cut off of stress was used to identify the participant as stressed or not. The EAS measure four aspects of child temperament, and the PDH measures intensity of parenting hassles, both as a mean score. Participants were recruited through a county children’s service agency, local support groups, a conference, and Facebook. Relationship and reason was a constructed variable the demographic responses.

Binary logistic regression tested several hypotheses: higher emotionality, activity, and shyness will predict greater likelihood of total parenting stress and stress in subscales; higher levels of sociability will predict less likelihood of stress in total parenting stress and subscales; relationship and reason will predict greater likelihood of stress in total parenting stress and subscales; and intensity of parenting tasks will predict greater likelihood of stress in total parenting stress and subscales. Content analysis was used to analysis the open ended question data to identify shared responses.

Results: All models were significant and improved classification of cases. For temperament, sociability predicted total parenting stress; activity, although not in the hypothesized direction, predicted stress in the parental distress subscale; shyness predicted stress in the parent-child dysfunctional interaction subscale; and both emotionality and shyness predicted stress in the difficult child subscale. For relationship and reason, that variable was not a predictor of stress for total parenting stress nor any subscales. Intensity of parenting tasks predicted total parenting stress and all subscales. Open-ended question analysis confirmed involvement of the child’s parent as a stressor and identified love for the child and love received by the child as a new and positive aspect of the provider experience.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings indicate that child temperament and intensity of parenting tasks are important factors to consider when addressing parenting stress in kinship care providers. Social workers can use these factors in practice to design interventions that reduce parenting stress.