Cognitive Flexibility and Parental Stress: Multiple Mediator Role of Parental Self-efficacy and Rumination

OpenAlex İngilizce

Parenthood is a dynamic and stressful life phase in which mothers and fathers take on multidimensional roles by adapting to the developmental needs of their children, and which requires constant change and restructuring or adaptation in cognitive, emotional and social terms. Parents may find both their children and themselves in stressful and challenging lives in each new period. For this reason, it is important to examine in detail the stress experienced by parents of children in different age groups and the factors related to stress during the process of raising their children. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the parenting stress and related variables of mothers and fathers of children in adolescence and pre-adolescence. A total of 403 parents, 338 mothers (83.87%) and 65 fathers (16.13%) of children between the ages of 10-18, participated in the study conducted based on the relational screening model. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Parental Stress Scale, Parental Competence Scale, Ruminative Thinking Style Scale and Cognitive Flexibility Scale. The data obtained were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that parenting competence and rumination had parallel mediating roles in the relationship between cognitive flexibility and parenting stress.