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Parental stress and social support are key factors influencing child socio-emotional development during early childhood. This study examines parenting stress and three forms of social support: significant others, proximal suppor and media. Associations were examined with children’s social-emotional competence and problem behaviours at 12 months, and internalizing/externalizing problem behaviours at 24 months in a community-based sample of Finnish first-time mothers (n = 302) and fathers (n = 75). Parenting stress, social support, and child outcomes were assessed using SPSQ, a social support questionnaire, BITSEA, and CBCL. Parenting stress reported by mothers and fathers was significantly associated with child problem behaviours at 12 and 24 months, and negatively with social-emotional competence at 12 months. Three forms of social support showed main effects and interaction effects with parenting stress on social-emotional competence and problem behaviours at both time points. The findings underscore parenting stress in child problem behaviours and highlight social support's importance for first-time parents.
Sourander et al. (Wed,) studied this question.