Self-Esteem and Psychological Stress Among Fathers and Mothers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Abstract

The current study aimed to identify the level of self-esteem and the level of psychological stress among fathers and mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders in the city of Salé, and to examine the nature of the relationship between them, in addition to determining whether there are statistically significant differences attributable to the variables (age, educational level, monthly income, gender). The study adopted the correlational descriptive approach and was conducted on a sample of (60) fathers and mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders enrolled in special education and rehabilitation centers in the city of Salé. The self-esteem scale and the psychological stress scale were used as data collection tools. The results showed that the level of self-esteem among the sample was high, while the level of psychological stress was moderate. The findings also indicated a statistically significant negative correlation at the level of (α ≤ 0.05) between self-esteem and psychological stress, as it was found that the higher the level of self-esteem, the lower the psychological stress among fathers and mothers, and vice versa. The results also revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the level of self-esteem and psychological stress attributable to the variables (age, educational level, monthly income, gender), indicating that these variables do not directly affect the psychological state of parents in this context. In light of these findings, the study recommended the necessity of enhancing self-esteem among fathers and mothers and providing psychological counseling programs to help them cope with psychological stress associated with caring for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.