A systematic review of the relationship between psychological flexibility and parental stress, and an empirical study validating the SCARED-P in an early childhood sample

Previous research identifies parental stress as having a negative impact on child mental health and behavioural outcomes. Mechanisms associated with parental stress have largely been explored from an individual difference or environmental perspective. Psychological flexibility (PF) refers to the ability to pursue valued life aims despite the presence of distress, and is made up of interconnected processes that unfold over time. There is emerging evidence in the research literature of a relationship between measures of PF and parental stress. However, no existing systematic review has yet synthesised the evidence-base for the relationship between parental stress and PF. Seven electronic databases (PsycInfo, Scopus, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Education Resources Information Center, British Education Index, and Child Development and Adolescent Studies) were systematically searched by variations of the keywords ‘psychological flexibility’ and ‘parent’. Studies were restricted to those which utilised only validated measures of PF and parental stress (these included validated measures of parental or general stress, mental health symptoms or mental wellbeing). Of the 448 studies identified through initial electronic database searches, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for systematic review. Ten studies provided evidence of a relationship between PF and parental stress. As the majority of these studies were correlational in design, directionality of the relationship could not be established. The findings of this review provide tentative evidence that improving parental PF could be a useful target of psychological interventions to reduce parental stress