How Do Mothers Behave in the Context of Stress, Child Behavior Issues, and Household Environment?
Froelich, J.M., Gerstein, E.D. Parenting Stress, Child Behavior Problems, and Household Chaos: Examining Parenting in Early Head Start Families. Child Youth Care Forum 54, 925–943 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-024-09845-1
This study found that parenting stress, child behavior problems, and household environment had a significant impact on both maternal sensitivity and detachment. In households with high chaos levels, an increase in maternal stress led to a decrease in sensitivity – however, this was only found to be significant for households with low levels of behavior problems. In households with high levels of behavior problems, there tended to be lower levels of maternal detachment (if the household had a low chaos level). This study provides important insight into how parenting behaviors in high-risk populations are influenced by the relationships between these factors.
The participants of this study were mothers in the Early Head Start Program and their young children (newborn to age 3). Researchers collected sociodemographic information about mothers in the study (age, race and ethnicity, level of education, relationship status), as well as their child’s gender. The family’s socioeconomic status was measured using the “income-to-needs ratio” (ratio calculated by dividing family income by the federal poverty guidelines per family size). Additionally, they collected information about the levels of mothers’ stress, child behavior problems, household chaos (confusion and disorganization) as well as maternal sensitivity and detachment. Sensitivity measures the degree to which parents understand and acknowledge their children’s signals, while detachment measures the awareness of and interaction with the child. This information was gathered through phone/at-home interviews, questionnaires, and observational measures.
Other notable findings of this study involve the gender of the child – higher levels of maternal detachment were associated with having a female child. This was a surprising result, as existing studies in this field tends to see this interaction with male children, not females. While some data in this study deviates from the expected, it also confirms what other researchers have reported. For instance, the study found that mothers tend to be less understanding with their child if the child has high levels of behavior problem.
These study findings may be used to help social programs deliver more specialized resources and support to children and their parents. The new findings reported in this study may also inspire future research.