Variations in parenting stress in African-American battered women - Implications for children's adjustment and family intervention

The negative consequences of children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) have been well documented; however, less is known about the effects of contextual factors such as parenting stress, parenting behaviors, and mothers' psychological functioning on exposed children. A total of 172 African-American mothers and their children (4 to 12 years of age) were recruited from battered women's shelters for the present study. Mothers filled out questionnaires assessing family violence, family contextual variables, and children's outcomes, and children reported on their own depressive symptoms. Results from a cluster analysis indicated substantial variability in women's experiences of parenting stress with regard to both type and quantity. Across each of the six clusters, women significantly differed in parenting behaviors and general psychological distress, and their children varied concomitantly in severity of internalizing and externalizing problems. These patterns suggest the need for individualized interventions, with a particular focus on parenting stress, to better serve the needs of women and children experiencing IPV.