Parental Stress Scale: Psychometric Properties in Parents of Preschool Children with Developmental Language Disorder

Parents of children with developmental disabilities experience more stress compared to those of typically developing children; therefore, measuring parental stress may help clinicians to address it. The Parental Stress Scale (PSS) is a self-rceport measure in the public domain that assesses stress related to child rearing. The present study tested the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the PSS in 204 parents (mean age: 39.4 +/- 5.7, 124 mothers and 80 fathers) of kindergarten children diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) after a clinical assessment. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to confirm the original four-factor structure. The results showed that the original four-factor structure (parental rewards, parental stressors, lack of control and parental satisfaction) is valid in this specific Greek population. The reliability was high (omega = 0.78) and there were weak correlations (r = -0.372, r = -0.337, r = -0.236), yet of statistical significance (p < 0.001), with similar psychological constructs (quality of life, emotional functioning and worries). Our data confirmed that the PSS is a reliable and valid tool to measure parental stress in parents of children with DLD. Greek clinicians (mental health professionals, speech-language pathologists) can evaluate parental stress and design early interventions targeting specific stress aspects, along with core language interventions for the children.