Parenting stress evaluation and behavioral syndromes in a group of pediatric patients with epilepsy

The aim of the present work was to measure the amount of stress in parents of children with epilepsy and to determine whether and how parenting stress is linked to behavioral symptoms of the children. Parenting stress was measured with the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and behavioral symptoms with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Data obtained from 26 parents of children with epilepsy were compared with those obtained from 31 parents of healthy children. Children with epilepsy obtained higher scores in all the subscales of PSI and in almost all the subscales of CBCL compared with healthy children. Epilepsy caused a high level of parenting stress and of problematic behaviors since the behavioral symptoms predicting the degree of parenting stress significantly differed between healthy children and children with epilepsy. Therefore, parents of children with epilepsy should be offered psychological support to cope with parenting stress and to improve the relationship with their children.