Parental stress among parents of young children-the contribution of parental self- awareness, attachment orientation, quality of couple relationship and child's temperament

Based on Abidin's model, we examined the contribution of three clusters of variables – parental variables (attachment orientation and self-awareness), child's temperament, and quality of the couple relationship among mothers and fathers of young children (0-7) – to perceived parental stress, as well as the moderating role of parental reflection, one of the self-awareness scales, in the association between attachment orientation and parental stress. To examine these questions, we distributed questionnaires containing a series of self-report measures to a sample of 294 Israeli parents (147 fathers and 147 mothers). We found that fathers, compared to mothers, reported more avoidant attachment, less reflection and less rumination. Young age, high education, high reflective parenting and better quality of couple relationships were associated with lower parental stress. Avoidant attachment orientation and rumination were associated with greater parental stress. As regards the child's characteristics, we found that emotional temperament was associated with greater parental stress. Our findings also show that parents' reflection skills moderated the association between avoidant attachment orientation and parental stress. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.