parenting stress escalates at a much faster rate among mothers of disabled children in 
 comparison to mothers of non - disabled children .
the 
 addition of a disabled child to a family requires parents to adopt new roles and 
 responsibilities and , in turn , creates a change in the function of the family system . 

indeed , disabled children often demand more effort in daily activities and social 
 integration than non - disabled children .
for example , in terms of social integration , 
 disabled children who rely on others for an extended period of time due to a lack of 
 independence tend to cause long - term parenting stress in mothers .
the personal growth and psychological development of children appear to be influenced by 
 parental attitudes .
specifically , parents mental stability and psychological traits have 
 been found to significantly impact disabled children1 .
further , the behavior and disposition of disabled children are 
 largely affected by their social surroundings and thus , their parents stress3 .
parents who experience repeated parenting 
 stress typically react negatively to children and , due to their parents adverse reaction , 
 children respond with behavior that , once again , evokes poor parenting behavior .
not 
 surprisingly then , higher levels of mother - reported parenting stress are associated with 
 higher levels of denial and coercive parenting behavior . therefore ,
parenting stress is 
 considered a salient predictor of inappropriate parenting behavior among mothers1 , 3 .
parenting stress among mothers is elicited by psychological and child - related factors as 
 well as environmental factors , such as family income , and supporting factors , including 
 fathers parenting participation4,5,6,7 .
previous studies focused on the role of 
 fathers in reducing the experience of parenting stress among mothers , because , 
 traditionally , they are mothers closest companions8 , 
 9 . by assuming the role of an 
 androgynous father , fathers reduce the negative effects of gender roles by interacting at a 
 deeper level with their children .
therefore , the need to socially introduce a new concept 
 regarding the role of family members through research on fathers parenting participation is 
 being magnified8 .
however , fathers 
 parenting participation as a factor for parenting stress in mothers with disabled children 
 has not been adequately studied .
thus , the objective of this study was to examine a novel 
 concept regarding the role of fathers by investigating the relationship between fathers 
 parenting participation and the parenting stress experienced by mothers who are primary 
 caregivers for disabled children .
broadly , this research will examine traditional parenting 
 approaches , which places responsibility on the mother , against more egalitarian 
 parenting .
the sample consisted of mothers with disabled kindergarteners who attended a day care 
 center or a rehabilitation center for the disabled in gwangju .
one hundred questionnaires 
 were distributed to randomly selected participants , while 83 were completed and returned . as 
 one questionnaire was returned with missing data , 82
the 
 study was carried out in accordance with the international ethical guidelines and the 
 declaration of helsinki and was approved by the local institutional review board .
the survey comprised a series of questions about general characteristics ( table 1table 1.general characteristics of the household ( n=82)classificationfrequency ( number)percentage ( % ) employ status of mothersemployed2834.1unemployed5465.9co - residing family memberscouple7591.5children82100.0father in law44.9mother in law67.3father22.4mother44.9others22.4reason of couple s separationno7591.5occupational issues33.7couple issues00.0divorce33.7death11.2child s gendermale5061.0female3239.0diagnosis of childbrain lesions4554.9down s syndrome33.7intellectual disability1214.6developmental disorder67.3autism33.7others1315.8age of childno response89.836 years old4251.2712 years old2935.4older than 13 years old33.7 ) , parenting participation by fathers , and parenting stress in mothers .
the former 
 included age , mother s employment status , education level , type of family couple s 
 co - residence status , and family income , while the latter included gender , age , diagnosis , 
 cause of disease , gestation period , birth weight , and birth order .
the study used a modified 
 version of a questionnaire designed by lamb the validity and reliability of which was 
 verified in a previous study on fathers parenting participation , support of a spouse , and 
 parenting role satisfaction10 .
the 
 questionnaire of fathers parenting participation consisted of 30 questions : 10 relating to 
 interaction with family , 10 on guidance , 5 on housekeeping activities , and 5 on recognition 
 and leisure activities .
for each question , a 5-point likert scale with responses from  not 
 at all ( 1 )  to  strongly agree ( 5 )  was used , and the score ranged from 30 points to 150 
 points .
thus , a high score overall implied high levels of the aforementioned areas of 
 participation .
this study measured the parenting stress in mothers by using the parenting 
 stress index / short form ( psi / sf ) , which is based on the 101 questions of the parenting 
 stress index developed by abidin11 . the 
 psi / sf
is divided into 3 broad subscales based on the source of the mothers stress  parental 
 distress , parent - child dysfunctional interaction , and difficult child  for a total of 35 
 questions . for each question , a 5-point likert scale ranging from  not at all ( 1 )  to 
  strongly agree ( 5 )  was used .
total scores could range from 35 points to 175 points , 
 whereby higher scores are associated with higher levels of parenting stress .
a total score 
 higher than 90 points may indicate that the participant requires professional help .
spss version 20.0 for windows ( spss inc . , chicago , il , usa ) was used to analyze the data .
a 
 frequency analysis was conducted to examine the demographic characteristics of the 
 participants . to examine the reliability of the questionnaire ,
fibally , the pearson s product - moment correlation coefficient was 
 used to examine a correlation between parenting participation by fathers and parenting 
 stress in mothers .
the fathers parenting participation mean score was 105.9 points , which indicates that , on 
 average , fathers showed greater than moderate participation in parenting . the mean score on 
 fathers  interaction with family  ,  guidance  , and  recognition , play , and leisure 
 activities 
accordingly , when the scores on 
 each of the subscales were converted to 100 points , the effective score was mostly found to 
 be over 70 points ( table 2table 2.descriptive statistics on the sub - scales of parenting participation by fathers 
 ( n=82)classificationmeanstandard deviationinteraction with family35.87.8guidance35.97.3housekeeping activities17.76.2recognition , play , leisure activities16.54.4total score105.922.4 ) .
out of the highest possible score of 175 points , the average mothers 
 parenting stress was 92.7 points .
when this was converted into 100 points , the score was 
 found to be about 52 points , indicating that parenting stress in mothers with disabled 
 children was moderate ( table 3table 3.descriptive statistics on the sub - scales of parenting participation by mothers 
 ( n=82)classificationmeanstandard deviationdistress of mothers34.07.6dysfunctional interaction with children29.16.8difficult child29.66.2total score92.717.2 ) . a higher level of parenting participation by fathers was associated with a lower level of 
 parenting stress in mothers . with reference to the subscales of parenting participation by 
 fathers and parenting stress experienced by mothers , fathers scores on  interaction with 
 the family ,
  guidance ,   housekeeping activities ,  and  recognition , play , and leisure 
 activities  showed a significant negative correlation on mothers distress score .
however , 
 with reference to the subscales of mothers parenting stress , the score on 
dysfunctional 
 interaction with children  revealed a significant negative correlation with fathers 
 participation in  guidance  as well as the total score on parenting participation by 
 fathers .
subscale score had a significant negative 
 correlation with  guidance ,   housekeeping activities ,  and fathers parenting participation 
 total score .
finally , all subscales of parenting stress in mothers were negatively 
 correlated with the total score on parenting participation by fathers ( table 4table 4.correlations between the subscales of parenting participation by fathers and 
 parenting stress in mothers ( n=82)distress of mothersdysfunctional interactionwith childrendifficult childtotal score on parentingstress in mothersinteraction with the family0.3550.1950.1410.284guidance0.3690.2710.2180.348housekeeping activities0.3290.1990.2990.331recognition , play , and leisure activities0.3670.1910.1090.276total score on parenting participation by fathers0.4070.2490.2250.358*p<0.05 , * * p<0.01 ) .
the present study aimed to examine the relationship between parenting participation by 
 fathers and parenting stress experienced by mothers with disabled children . it also aimed to 
 provide baseline data for facilitating positive parenting participation by fathers in order 
 to decrease parenting stress experienced by mothers .
results show that higher levels of 
 mother - perceived father participation in parenting are associated with lower levels of 
 distress among mothers . however , although  dysfunctional interaction with children  and 
  difficult child
 had significant positive correlations with both fathers parenting 
 participation and mothers parenting stress , the correlation was below a moderate level .
the 
 fathers  interaction with the family  and  recognition , play and leisure activities  with 
 the child were not significantly correlated .
recently , several studies examined the relationship between fathers parenting 
 participation and mothers parenting stress by focusing on parents with disabled 
 children8 , 9 .
son examined a structural relationship among parenting 
 participation by fathers , parenting stress of mothers , and parenting efficacy , and verified 
 a mediating effect of mothers parenting stress on the relationship between fathers 
 parenting participation with disabled children , and fathers parenting efficacy . 

furthermore , son found a mediating role of mothers parenting stress on the relationship 
 between fathers parenting participation with disabled children and mother s parenting 
 efficacy8 . in support of this , the 
 present study also found a negative relationship between fathers parenting participation , 
 as perceived by mothers , and mothers self - rated parenting stress .
notably , son s study 
 found that the fathers interaction with the family had the strongest correlation with 
 mothers parenting stress . according to the mothers reports ,
fathers interactions with 
 their families reflected that fathers respected the mothers opinions , felt responsible for 
 parenting , and tried to respond to their disabled children s questions with enthusiasm .
this 
 further implied that high - interaction fathers were committed to investing in and developing 
 a relationship of trust with their children through encouraging and respecting their 
 curiosity .
this is particularly true for a family context in which fathers have moved away 
 from a patriarchal role .
such a family context , for instance , would include fathers and 
 mothers resolving family issues together , discussing important topics with each other , and 
 similarly prioritizing the family system .
therefore , fathers may no longer be conceptualized 
 as patriarchal and authoritative by mothers , but rather as key players who invest equally 
 into the family . furthermore , when fathers participate in parenting , mothers experience a 
 feeling of solidarity , satisfaction , and trust in them .
therefore , mothers with disabled 
 children can feel emotionally and mentally stable in their parenting , which in turn is 
 believed to decrease parenting stress .
the present study explored the relationship between fathers parenting participation , as 
 perceived by mothers and mothers parenting stress .
future research investigating the 
 factors that influence fathers parenting participation may be useful as this has yet to be 
 studied . additionally ,
because the study s sample size was relatively small ( 82 
 participants ) and the survey was limited to the gwangju area , results may not be 
 generalizable .
 [ purpose ] the purpose of this research was two - fold : ( 1 ) to evaluate the effects of 
 father s parenting participation on parenting stress among mothers with disabled children 
 and ( 2 ) more specifically , to investigate the importance of fathers parenting 
 participation in decreasing mothers parenting stress . [ subjects and methods ] to examine 
 these relationships , this study recruited 82 mothers with disabled children from 
 rehabilitation centers in the gwangju city . 
 the common characteristics of parents and 
 children , father s parenting participation , and mother s parenting stress were assessed 
 using standard questionnaires . 
 [ results ] based on mother reports , findings suggest that as 
 fathers parenting participation increases mothers parenting stress decreases . 
 
 [ conclusion ] the present study reveals a need for improvement in parenting education and 
 in providing fathers of disabled children with a temporary leave of absence from work . 
 
 specifically , this research highlights the importance of shared parenting responsibilities 
 among family members . 
 finally , our findings suggest that developing a standardized 
 national program for assisting parents with disabled children may help decrease parenting 
 stress in mothers . 
INTRODUCTION
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION