Family stress and child behaviour
Date
1998
Authors
Lindquist, Jennifer Ella Lynn
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Abstract
All individuals experience stress in their lives. This stress acts as a pervasive force, influencing our relationships with our families, our friends, and our children. This study investigated the influence of family stress on the child behaviour of preschoolers and how a sample of parents managed this stress. The sample of 27 families was elected from Victoria and area preschools. All participants completed Achenbach's ( 1991) Child Behavior Checklist, Sarason, Johnson, and Seigel's (1978) Life Experiences Survey, and Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, and Lazarus' (1981) Daily Hassles questionnaire. Five families participated in a structured interview of approximately one hour. Preliminary statistic revealed that of the two dependent variables, life experiences and daily hassles. only daily hassles were significantly related to child behaviour (p <.05). Interview results appear to contradict the questionnaire data, with life events being more influential in regards to child behavior than daily hassles. It appear that a perceptual difference existed between life events and daily hassles, which affected parents' utilization of coping strategies thereby influencing child behaviour. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.