Understanding Parents’ Exposure to Stressors and their Psychological Well-Being

Indianapolis, IN

The overall purpose of this pilot study was to examine same-day associations between parents' workplace experiences and the nature of their interactions with their preschool-aged children. As a first step, we sought to understand parents' exposure to daily and context specific stressors and indicators of their psychological well-being. It is important for professionals working directly with families to understand which parents are more susceptible to workplace and other daily stressors, and how parents are directly impacted by workplace, marital, and other daily stressors. Families served by a local childcare center for preschool-aged children were recruited for the sample. The current sample consists of 14 mothers and 12 fathers. Study participants provided demographic information and responded to questions about their jobs, marital quality, coping strategies, and several indicators of psychological well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety, general mood). Parents also completed daily stress and mood inventories across multiple days. The focus of the results section for this poster presentation will be mainly descriptive; we will provide frequencies, ranges, and mean scores on all stress and well-being measures as well as some preliminary analyses of relationships between variables (e.g., correlations and t-tests with adjustments for sample size). Results from this pilot study can inform future research employing larger samples of families with preschoolers.