Peer-reviewed article
Fathers' Childcare Success and Maternal Parenting Stress: A Comparative Study of Families With and Without Children Having Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
Ishida S, Takahashi T, Kinoshita A, Igarashi H ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how fathers' success in childcare relates to mothers' stress levels in families with and without children who have neurodevelopmental disabilities. The researchers surveyed 53 fathers of children with disabilities and 206 fathers of typically developing children, along with their spouses. They found that when fathers were more successful at childcare, mothers experienced less parenting stress in both groups, but the reasons for fathers' success differed between families with and without children with disabilities. The study suggests that supporting fathers requires different approaches depending on whether children have neurodevelopmental disabilities.
Key points
- In both groups, higher paternal childcare success was significantly associated with lower maternal stress (ND families: β = -0.42, p < 0.05; TD families: β = -0.39, p < 0.001)
- In typically developing families, paternal role awareness, father-child relationship, and spousal relationship were most strongly related to fathers' childcare success
- These same associations were less prominent in families with children who have neurodevelopmental disabilities
- The study suggests interventions should address fathers' psychological traits and specialized skills needed for parenting children with neurodevelopmental disabilities
Limitations
The country where the research was conducted is not specified. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish causation, and the sample of fathers of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities was relatively small (n=53).
Abstract
Paternal engagement has been described as a relational process that redistributes caregiving responsibilities and strengthens family resilience and function. This study investigated the association between fathers' childcare success and maternal parenting stress by comparing families raising children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (ND) with those raising typically developing (TD) children. Fifty-three fathers of children with ND and 206 fathers of TD children completed online surveys on parenting self-efficacy, childcare knowledge, involvement, communication with their spouse, and perceived social support. In paired surveys, spouses reported on parenting stress. Structural equation modeling indicated that in both groups, higher paternal childcare success was significantly associated with lower maternal stress (ND: β = -0.42, p < 0.05; TD: β = -0.39, p < 0.001). However, the contributing factors differed; in TD families, paternal role awareness, father-child relationship, and spousal relationship were most strongly related to fathers' childcare success, whereas these associations were less prominent in ND families. These findings highlight the importance of interventions that address fathers' psychological traits as well as the specialized skills and knowledge required for parenting children with ND to enhance family functioning and parental well-being.