Stress,Locus of Control,and Role Satisfaction in Clinic and Control Mothers

We compared stress, locus-of-control, and role-satisfaction indices in clinic and control mothers. Participants were 67 mothers of children 2 to 10 years old. Twenty clinic-referred mothers had behavior problem children; 47 control mothers had relatively well-behaved children. Mothers completed the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, the Parenting Stress Index, the Parental Locus of control Scale, the Cleminshaw-Guidubaldi Parent Satisfaction Scale, a demographic inventory, and a consent form. Clinic mothers indicated higher levels of parenting stress, more external locus of control, and less satisfaction in their parental role than control mothers. The results support the advisability of pretreatment assessment of such parental variables to aid the development of more effective treatment strategies for children with problems.