Influences of Mothers' Stressors, Maternal Depression and Parenting on Conduct Problems among Thai Preschoolers
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of mothers' stressors, maternal depression, and disrupted parenting on Thai preschoolers' conduct problems. One hundred ninety eight mother child dyads were recruited from 8 schools under the supervision of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Data were collected from October 2012 to May 2013. There were two main steps in the data collecting process: screening and collecting data. The participants were screened based on the children's conduct problems score. Data were collected via eight self administered questionnaires; 1) Demographic data form, 2) Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, 3) Everyday Stressors Index, 4) Locke Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, 5) Difficult Child Questionnaire 6) Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, 7) Parenting Scale, and 8) Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory and then analyzed using path analysis. There were significant indirect effects of the mothers' stressors (i.e. daily hassles, marital satisfaction, and child difficult temperament) on child conduct problems through maternal depression and disrupted parenting. In addition, maternal depression and disrupted parenting independently affected child conduct problems. Thus interventions to reduce maternal depression and to improve effective parenting are essential to reduce conduct problems in preschool aged children.