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Influence of Partners on Parental Stress of Neglectful Mothers

NCJ Number
164202
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 18-33
Author(s)
C Lacharite; L Ethier; G Couture
Date Published
1996
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study explored the mother's perception of her partner in a neglectful family and its relation to her adaptation as a parent.
Abstract
Forty-eight two-parent families participated in the study; 24 were neglectful families referred by the child protection services of a small urban area in Quebec (Canada). Twenty-four of the families were non-maltreating families paired with the neglectful families on age and gender of the target child, socioeconomic status of the family, and educational level of the mother. The study examined the relationships between several variables concerning the mother's perception of the partner's behavior: perception of the quality of the marital relationship, perception of the quality of the paternal figure-child relationship, perception of the partner as a social support figure for the mother, report of domestic violence, and current level of parental stress of the mother. The data partially support the hypothesis that compared to men in non-maltreating families, men in neglectful families are perceived by the mothers as being less adequate marital partners, less supportive, and more violent. The results further show that, even after controlling for the neglectful status of mothers, the perceived quality of the marital relationship and the presence of domestic violence explain a significant portion of the parental stress of mothers. These findings are in line with other empirical results obtained by Belsky (1979) and Belsky and Volling (1987) concerning the contribution of marital relationship to the quality of parenting in normal families. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 36 references