Abstract:
The goal of this study was to examine the change, over a two year period, in mothers' reports of
children's challenging behaviour and family conflict as they relate to change in parenting hassles
(stress) among families who have preschool children with and without communication delays.
Forty-four parent-child dyads participated in this Family Resource Project study that was funded
by the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. Thirty-one ofthese families had
preschool children with communication delays and 13 children were identified as not having
communication delays. Child behaviour was evaluated using the Oppositional Subscale and
ADHD Index of the Conners Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R:S), the Conflict Subscale ofthe
Family Environment Scale was used to examine family conflict, and the Parent Hassles Scale
was used to examine parental stress. Results showed that change in mothers' daily hassles was
influenced by change in their preschool children's ADHD behaviour and change in family
conflict. Change in child oppositional behaviour did not predict change in mothers' hassles
scores.
