Date of Award

1992

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

This study examined the differences in stress levels of first time mothers of newborn children as measured by The Parenting Stress Index (PSI) (Abidin, 1986). Two groups of mothers were compared. One group of parents were subscribers to the monthly publication, Growing Child, and another group of mothers did not receive any specific instruction regarding child development. The data were gathered in a pretest-posttest format with an approximate interval of six months. Data were analyzed using t-tests and scatterplots. Results showed insignificant differences between pretest to posttest gain scores on the Child Domain, Parent Domain and Total Stress scales of the PSI. Also, insignificant differences were found on the posttest scores between groups on the Child Domain and Total Stress scales of the PSI, despite the observed reduction in group mean scores. Scatterplots were constructed so that these differences could be examined. The configuration of the scatterplots suggest that when maternal stress in high initially, mothers are likely to benefit from reading a monthly publication regarding age-appropriate child development.

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