Abstract
Parenting stress can have long-term effects on parents and children, but little research has been done on racial and ethnic differences. We examine parenting stress among White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic mothers with infants younger than 9 months old. We use birth certificate data and baseline survey data from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment. The study selected its sample from the birth certificates of all infants born in Oklahoma during a certain time period and oversampled three minority groups using stratified random sampling (N = 2,626). The dependent variable is a parenting stress scale created using four questions about mothers’ feelings and perceptions of parenting responsibilities. We employ ordinary least squares regressions and Blinder–Oaxaca decompositions. On average, mean parenting stress scores among Whites (2.80) and American Indians (2.92) are significantly lower than among Blacks (3.17) and Hispanics (3.44). Regressions indicate that—across all four groups—parenting stress is positively associated with maternal depression and negatively associated with social supports. Decomposition results show that different levels of social supports explain 14 to 30 % of the group differences between Whites and the three minority groups. Different levels of depression score explain a significant portion of the disparity between Whites and Blacks (19 %). If the proportion of native-born mothers among Hispanics were as high as that among Whites, about one-third of the gap in parenting stress would disappear. Findings call for interventions to reduce depression and strengthen social supports for new mothers, especially among racial and ethnic minorities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abidin, R. R. (1992). The determinants of parenting behavior. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21(4), 407–412.
Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55(1), 83–96.
Berry, J. O., & Jones, W. H. (1995). The parental stress scale: Initial psychometric evidence. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12(3), 463.
Blinder, A. S. (1973). Wage discrimination: Reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources, 8(4), 436–455.
Buescher, P. A., Gizlice, Z., & Jones-Vessey, K. A. (2005). Discrepancies between published data on racial classification and self-reported race: Evidence from the 2002 North Carolina live birth records. Public Health Reports, 120(4), 393–398.
Cardoso, J. B., Padilla, Y. C., & Sampson, M. (2010). Racial and ethnic variation in the predictors of maternal parenting stress. Journal of Social Service Research, 36(5), 429–444.
Ceballo, R., & McLoyd, V. C. (2002). Social support and parenting in poor, dangerous neighborhoods. Child Development, 73(4), 1310–1321.
Conger, R. D., Wallace, L. E., Sun, Y., Simons, R. L., McLoyd, V. C., & Brody, G. H. (2002). Economic pressure in African American families: A replication and extension of the family stress model. Developmental Psychology, 38(2), 179–193.
Crnic, K. A., Greenberg, M. T., Robinson, N. M., & Ragozin, A. S. (1984). Maternal stress and social support: Effects on the mother-infant relationship from birth to eighteen months. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 54(2), 224–235.
Curtin, R. T., Presser, S., & Singer, E. (2005). Changes in telephone survey nonresponse over the past quarter century. Public Opinion Quarterly, 69(1), 87–98.
Cutrona, C. E., Russell, D. W., Abraham, W. T., Gardner, K. A., Melby, J. N., Bryant, C., et al. (2003). Neighborhood context and financial strain as predictors of marital interaction and marital quality in African American couples. Personal Relationships, 10(3), 389–409.
Deater-Deckard, K. (2004). Parenting stress. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Esdaile, S. A., & Greenwood, K. M. (1995). Issues of parenting stress: A study involving mothers of toddlers. Journal of Family Studies, 1(2), 153–165.
Franco, L. M., Pottick, K. J., & Huang, C. C. (2010). Early parenthood in a community context: Neighborhood conditions, race-ethnicity, and parenting stress. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(5), 574–590.
Gupta, V. B. (2007). Comparison of parenting stress in different developmental disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 19(4), 417–425.
Harmon, D. K., & Perry, A. R. (2011). Fathers’ unaccounted contributions: Paternal involvement and maternal stress. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 92(2), 176–182.
Howell, E. A., Mora, P., & Leventhal, H. (2006). Correlates of early postpartum depressive symptoms. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 10(2), 149–157. doi:10.1007/s10995-005-0048-9.
Jackson, A. P., & Huang, C. C. (2000). Parenting stress and behavior among single mothers of preschoolers: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Journal of Social Service Research, 26, 29–42.
Jann, B. (2008). The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models. The Stata Journal, 8(4), 453–479.
Keeter, S., Kennedy, C., Dimock, M., Best, J., & Craighill, P. (2006). Gauging the impact of growing nonresponse on estimates from a national RDD telephone survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70(5), 759–779.
Koeske, G. F., & Koeske, R. D. (1990). The buffering effect of social supports on parental stress. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(3), 440–451.
MacLeod, J., & Nelson, G. (2000). Programs for the promotion of family wellness and the prevention of child maltreatment: A meta-analytic review. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24(9), 1127–1149.
Marks, E. L., Rhodes, B. B., & Scheffler, S. (2008). SEED for Oklahoma kids: Baseline analysis. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI International.
McLoyd, V. C. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on Black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61(2), 311–346.
McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. The American Psychologist, 53(2), 185–204.
McLoyd, V. C., Cauce, A. M., Takeuchi, D., & Wilson, L. (2000). Marital processes and parental socialization in families of color: A decade review of research. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62(4), 1070–1093.
Melchior, L., Huba, G. J., Brown, V. B., & Reback, C. J. (1993). A short depression index for women. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53(4), 1117–1125. doi:10.1177/0013164493053004024.
Murry, V. M., Brown, P. A., Brody, G. H., Cutrona, C. E., & Simons, R. L. (2001). Racial discrimination as a moderator of the links among stress, maternal psychological functioning, and family relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63(4), 915–926.
Nam, Y., Kim, Y., Clancy, M., Zager, R., & Sherraden, M. (2013). Do child development accounts promote account holding, saving, and asset accumulation for children’s future? Evidence from a statewide randomized experiment. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(1), 6–33.
Neumark, D. (1988). Employers’ discriminatory behavior and the estimation of wage discrimination. Journal of Human Resources, 23(3), 279–296.
Oaxaca, R. L. (1973). Male–female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review, 14(3), 693–709.
Probst, J. C., Wang, J. Y., Martin, A. B., Moore, C. G., Paul, B. M., & Samuels, M. E. (2008). Potentially violent disagreements and parenting stress among American Indian/Alaska native families: Analysis across seven states. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 12, S91–S102.
Raphael, J. L., Zhang, Y., Liu, H., & Giardino, A. P. (2010). Parenting stress in US families: Implications for paediatric healthcare utilization. Child: Care, Health and Development, 36(2), 216–224.
Schieman, S., Whitestone, Y. K., & Van Gundy, K. (2006). The nature of work and the stress of higher status. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 47(3), 242–257.
Segal, L., Opie, R. S., & Dalziel, K. (2012). Theory! the missing link in understanding the performance of neonate/infant home-visiting programs to prevent child maltreatment: A systematic review. The Milbank Quarterly, 90(1), 47–106.
Williford, A. P., Calkins, S. D., & Keane, S. P. (2007). Predicting change in parenting stress across early childhood: Child and maternal factors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35(2), 251–263.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nam, Y., Wikoff, N. & Sherraden, M. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Parenting Stress: Evidence from a Statewide Sample of New Mothers. J Child Fam Stud 24, 278–288 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9833-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9833-z