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Background:Raising and caring for children with special needs places significant stress on parents, seriously affecting their life satisfaction as well as their physical and mental health. Because the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, the aim of the present study was to explore the mediating role of parenting burnout and the moderating role of marital satisfaction in the relationship between parenting stress and life satisfaction.Methods:We conducted a survey of 283 parents of children with special needs in Guangdong, China, using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, the Parental Burnout Assessment, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Marital Satisfaction Scale.Results:After controlling for demographic factors, parenting stress negatively predicted life satisfaction and positively predicted parenting burnout. Parenting burnout negatively predicted life satisfaction. Marital satisfaction moderated the relationship between parenting stress and parenting burnout, with the negative effect of parenting stress on parenting burnout gradually diminishing as marital satisfaction increased.Conclusions:Parenting stress among parents of children with special needs negatively predicts their life satisfaction, with parenting burnout playing a partial mediator role and marital satisfaction as a moderator. Therefore, future prevention and intervention efforts aimed at improving the life satisfaction of parents of children with special needs should be directed at parenting stress, parenting burnout, and marital satisfaction.
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Chen et al. (2026) studied this question.
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