ABSTRACT
The upbringing of a child involves an array of demands that are closely linked not only to children’s needs, but also to parents’ ability to face and deal with the daily tasks inherent in their parental role. Parenting stress can arise if parents are confronted with challenges that they interpret as threatening for them, the children, and their relationship. This is of particular relevance to adoptive families, which face additional strains in each of the stages of the family life cycle and children’s development, and is also associated with children’s and parents’ wellbeing. This chapter reviews the work on parenting stress in adoptive and non-adoptive families, examines child-related variables as well as parent-related variables’ relationship with parenting stress, and concludes with some implications for intervention in light of the results presented.
