A longitudinal study of the parenting stress experienced by the father and mother

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The aims of this study were to clarify 1) changes in parenting stress with advance of age of the infant, 2) the differences between parenting stresses experienced by the father and mother and 3) family characteristics associated with parenting stress. Parenting stress was assessed using the Japanese version of the parenting Stress Index (PSI). Surveys were carried out seven times when the children were between the age of 4 months and the age of 42 months. The subjects were 112 fathers and 174 mothers who had given valid responses to the questionnaires. The following results were obtained from statistical analysis.1) The total scores for the Japanese version of the PSI for fathers and mothers differed depending on the age of the child. The highest score for the fathers was at the age of 18 months. The lowest score for the mothers was at the age of 4 months, and the scores for the mothers increased at 10 months of age and 18 months of age and then leveled off.2) In the Japanese version of the PSI, the mothers had a higher score than the fathers.3) The Japanese version of the PSI for fathers and mothers was correlated with order of birth and health states of the child, and the Japanese version of the PSI for mothers was correlated with working/non-working situation of the mother and educational background of the father.