Parenting Stress and Related Factors in Parents of Children with Tourette Syndrome

The objective of this study was to assess the stress of parents and its influencing factors in caring for children with Tourette syndrome. A total of 150 subjects, either fathers or mothers of children diagnosed with Tourette syndrome between the ages of 6 and 12, were recruited by purposive sampling from the membership roster of the Taiwan Tourette Family Association. Study tools included a Parenting Stress Index Form and Social Support Index Form. The standardized score for parent perception of parenting stress was 83.5. The main stressor of parents of children with Tourette syndrome was found to be child care difficulties. A correlation was found between parenting stress and child gender, age, school situation and disease severity; parent age and family income. A significant negative correlation (r = -.459, p＜.01) was found between social support and parenting stress. It was revealed that social support had a significant effect on parenting stress in this study. Multiple linear regression analysis found disease severity and family income to be the variables with the greatest predictive power for parenting stress, explaining 42% of total variance. Results showed that factors affecting parenting stress included family income and disease severity. These findings should help clinical professionals develop more effective health care strategies to address the needs of children with Tourette syndrome and their parents.