The Increase in Parenting Stress and Its Impact on Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Development

Dear Colleagues,

Stress resulting from being a parent, i.e., parenting stress, is characterized by an imbalance between parental resources and child care requirements, with high levels of parenting stress being associated with various potentially harmful factors for children’s emotional and behavioral development. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have shown that parenting stress has increased, and recent results suggest that it is continuing to rise in the face of current societal challenges. Given this background, we would like to invite you to contribute to our Special Issue “The Increase in Parenting Stress and its Impact on Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Development”.

The central aim of this Special Issue is to deepen our understanding of the impact of today’s parenting stress on children’s emotional and behavioral development in different populations and age groups. Research on the impact of parenting stress on children’s mental health outcomes, as well as developmental outcomes with a focus on social–emotional skills, is highly welcomed. Another focus will be on current influencing factors for parenting stress, as well as innovative prevention and intervention programs addressing parenting stress.

In particular, we invite researchers to present their original work (research articles and systematic reviews)on the topics of parenting stress and child emotional and behavioral development. Topics may include (but are not limited to) risk factors for parenting stress, sequelae of parenting stress, and potential protecting factors for child development in this context. A focus on prevention and intervention is also welcome.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Ina Nehring
Dr. Anna Friedmann
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.