Coping styles and stress levels of Chinese-American mothers of disabled children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the coping styles and stress levels of Chinese-American mothers of children with and without educational disability. The Parenting Stress Index and Ways of Coping Questionnaire were translated into Chinese and sent to 350 mothers of Chinese-American students who were enrolled in the Seattle Public Schools during the 1995-96 school year. 52 mothers of disabled children and 55 mothers of non-disabled children returned completed questionnaires. Results indicated that, contrary to most research findings among Caucasian parents, no group differences were found to be statistically significant regarding overall parenting stress or stress related to child characteristics. Surprisingly, mothers with normally developing children experienced more stress that were related to social isolation and their sense of competence as a parent. They also more often used escape-avoidance coping strategies to deal with stress. This may be due to the fact that this particular group of respondents was younger and included relatively newer immigrants than the disabled group. Compared to mothers of normally developing children in this study, Chinese-American mothers with disabled children more often used confrontive coping strategies with some degree of hostility and risk-taking to alter the stressful situation. Implications for educational interventions and familial support were discussed. Directions for future research were proposed.