An Investigation of the Relationship between Parental Stress, Coping Strategies, and Family Functioning among Parents of Educable Mentally Retarded Students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between parental stress, coping strategies, and family functioning among parents of educable mentally retarded students. The research method was correlational and the research population comprised the parents of educable mentally retarded students in Eslam Shahr from whom 104 individuals were chosen through simple random sampling. For the purpose of data collection, Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Family Assessment Device (FAD-I), and the Billings and Moos Coping Scale (BMCS) were utilized. The data were analyzed through correlation, regression, and path analyses. The obtained results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between parental stress, strategies for focusing on emotions, gaining social support, as well as somatization of problems; a significant negative relation was observed between parental stress and family functioning. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between strategies for focusing on problems, cognitive appraisal, and family functioning; the results were indicative of a significant negative relation between somatization of problems and family functioning. In addition, there was a significant path between parental stress and family functioning, with somatization of problems functioning as a mediating variable. According to the findings of this study and for the purpose of promoting parental functioning, it is suggested that in addition to designing and implementing psychological interventions for reducing parental stress, parents are trained to decrease the use of strategies for focusing on emotions and somatization of problems through an increase in the use of strategies for focusing on problems and cognitive appraisal.