ABSTRACT
Stress has long played an integral role in understanding parenting processes and families in general. The sheer volume of research has been staggering, both in regard to research that has specifically addressed stress as a construct (see Garmezy and Rutter, 1983), and research that has focused on contextual and events (e.g., poverty, divorce, single parenting, and illness) implicitly assumed to be stressful for families (Cummings, Davies, and Campbell, 2000). The volume of work is surprising, given the fact that no single, clear conceptualization of stress has emerged over the years. In general, stress involves an individual’s emotional and behavioral response to some unpleasant event. Typically, the response involves some level of distress that adversely affects subsequent behavior and functioning. Furthermore, the stress response has multiple parameters (emotional, behavioral, and physiological) that affect well-being. Subjective assessment of the response involves an individual’s appraisal of the adaptive significance of the stressor (event) that creates the response, whereas objective assessments strictly address the presence of adverse events without seeking individual appraisal.
