Child involvement and stress in Greek mothers of deaf children

Forty-two mothers of Greek deaf children reported their level of stress, availability of support, duration and frequency of involvement with their children, and affective tone of involvement, using an adaptation of Hill's ABCX model of stress and support (1949). Data on the interaction among six caregiving categories were collected over a 2-day period. Mothers of younger children and of boys, as well as mothers reporting greater stress, had longer and more frequent involvement. Mothers with greater stress were also more likely to rate the affective tone of their involvement as more neutral or as chorelike. Support availability was unrelated to involvement, with the exception of supporting neighbors. Compared to Canadian mothers of children both with and without disabilities, exposed to the same study protocol, the mothers in the present study were not more stressed. However, they were more likely to report a negative affective tone in their caregiving.