Explaining Parenting Stress among Adoptive Parents: The Contribution of Mindfulness, Psychological Flexibility, and Self-Compassion

Ana Luz Chorão, Maria Cristina Canavarro and Raquel Pires ()
Additional contact information
Ana Luz Chorão: Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal
Maria Cristina Canavarro: Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal
Raquel Pires: Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Rua do Colégio Novo, 3000-115 Coimbra, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: Although parenting stress has been identified as one of the most important and highly acceptable targets for postadoption psychological intervention, knowledge regarding the modifiable factors that contribute to explaining this outcome among adoptive parents remains scarce. This study aimed to explore whether and to what extent adoptive parents’ mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and self-compassion contribute to explaining parenting stress and to analyze whether this contribution varies according to children’s age, time passed since the adoptive placement, and the parents’ gender. Cross-sectional data from 302 Portuguese adoptive parents with children between 1 and 17 years old were collected online through self-response questionnaires. Controlling for a wide range of child-, adoption-, and parent-related variables, lower levels of mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and self-compassion were associated with higher levels of parenting stress. These associations were not moderated by children’s age, time passed since the adoptive placement, or the parents’ gender. The final regression model explained 50% of the variance in parenting stress. These results allow us to reflect on new guidelines for both preventive and remedial interventions with adoptive parents, given the apparent added value of promoting these psychological resources.

Keywords: adoption; adoptive parents; mindfulness; parenting stress; psychological flexibility; psychological resources; self-compassion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14534/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14534/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14534-:d:964395

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().