Subgroup Differences in Parenting Stress and Life Satisfaction Among Parents of Children with Disabilities Receiving...

Parenting stress and life satisfaction are important indicators of family well-being and parent mental health in families of children with disabilities. However, limited empirical attention has been given to how these outcomes differ among parents whose children receive adapted physical activity (APA) services within South Korea's Developmental Rehabilitation Service system. This cross-sectional study examined subgroup differences in parenting stress and life satisfaction according to sociodemographic, disability-related, and service-utilization characteristics among parents of children receiving APA services.

Data were collected from 295 parents of school-aged children with disabilities enrolled in APA services at child development centers. Welch-type tests, Welch's ANOVA or one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analyses, Benjamini-Hochberg FDR adjustment, and supplementary analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to examine group differences and the stability of selected associations after adjustment for prespecified covariates. Confirmatory factor analysis and gender-based measurement invariance testing were also conducted for the adapted parenting stress scale.

Parenting stress subdomains were positively correlated with one another (r = 0.19-0.53) and negatively correlated with life satisfaction (r = -0.28 to -0.40). Female parents reported higher social and psychological stress than male parents. Household income showed the largest association with economic stress, and significant differences were also observed according to parental age, education level, disability severity, and selected service-utilization characteristics. Some associations remained after ANCOVA adjustment, whereas others were attenuated or emerged only after adjustment.

The findings indicate subgroup differences in parenting stress and life satisfaction among parents of children receiving APA services. Because the study used a cross-sectional, self-reported design with convenience sampling and an adapted instrument, the results should be interpreted as preliminary associative evidence rather than evidence of causal or service-specific effects. Future longitudinal, comparative, and service-level research is needed to clarify how APA service contexts relate to caregiver well-being over time.