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Multilevel Factors Influencing Maternal Stress During the First Three Years
Author(s) -
Mulsow Miriam,
Caldera Yvonne M.,
Pursley Marta,
Reifman Alan,
Huston Aletha C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2002.00944.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , temperament , longitudinal study , personality , social support , multilevel model , stress (linguistics) , child rearing , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , machine learning , computer science
This prospective study applies family stress theory to the influence of personal, child, and familial factors on a mother's parenting stress during the first 3 years of her infant's life. Participants included 134 mothers and their infants at ages 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months from one site of a multisite, longitudinal study. Mother's personality was most predictive of parenting stress cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Intimacy with partner reduced parenting stress early in the infant's life and at 36 months, whereas general social support was more important in the second year. Child temperament was influential at 1 and 36 months. Counterintuitively, mothers who were more satisfied with work or school choices were more likely to be chronically stressed. Implications are discussed.