Parenting stress and marital satisfaction among parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders: Moderating role of resilience

Background: Parenting stress is an important factor that affects the marital satisfaction of parents of children with Neurodevelopmental disorders. When parents are faced with a challenging situation, such as having a child with a neuro-developmental disability, resilience facilitates a more positive coping style and improves marital satisfaction. Objective: to investigate the relationship between parenting children with neurodevelopment disorders, stress and marital satisfaction among parents while moderating the role of resilience. Methodology: The cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on n=300 parents of children with ADHD, an intellectual disability, and autism. Purposive sampling was employed to get a sample from RHS Rehabilitation Centre Islamabad. The mothers (n=150) and fathers (n=150) were selected with the age range of 25 to 50 years. Parenting stress was measured using the Parental Stress Scale after translating it into Urdu. To determine the Resilience, the Urdu version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale was used. Whereas marital satisfaction was determined using an Urdu-translated version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results: A negative correlation was revealed in the findings between parenting stress and marital satisfaction (p < 0.05). Moderation analysis demonstrated a significant effect of resilience on the relationship between parenting stress and marital satisfaction (R2 = 0.70, B = 0.002, β = -0.71, p < 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, it was found that high stress experienced by parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders has a negative impact on their marital satisfaction. Both their marriage and parental lives were affected equally. For both fathers and mothers, resilience can be a useful tool in resolving marital problems. Keywords: marital satisfaction, neurodevelopmental disorders, parenting stress, resilience