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Parents of children with developmental delays experience increased levels of parental stress, often related to the severity of their child’s behaviour. However, the experience of stress is dependent on how individuals perceive their situation and whether coping strategies (i.e., problem-focused, emotion-focused, and appraisal- or perception-focused coping) are used to manage stress. Forty-six parents of preschool children with and without developmental delays participated in telephone interviews as part of a longitudinal study on school transition. Parents completed measures about their child’s behaviour, stress and use of coping strategies. Parents of children with developmental delays experienced greater levels of stress, and had children with higher maladaptive behaviour than children without delays. Despite differences in reported stress, parents of children with delays were using similar amounts and styles of coping as parents of children without delays. Future research should investigate the relationship between the various types of coping and their effect on reducing stress.
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