Stress Levels of Young Children and Parental Conflict

¶ … Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) program is used to assess young children, their caregivers, and the program environment. One of the areas highlighted in the checklist focuses on responsive caregiving as an avenue for parents and other caregivers to reflect on and change -- where needed -- the way they interact with their young charges (Rosas, et al., 2012). Moreover, considerable research has been conducted on the implementation of parenting and mental health models within the early childhood education setting (Rosas, et al., 2012). The proposed research would employ the DECA and a questionnaire constructed specifically for this study to identify children who may be at risk for stress related to parental arguments and household conflict.

Initial Topical Literature Review

Current research on the impact of arguments between parents that occur near sleeping babies indicates that the brain activity of infants is responsive to the tone and loudness of the parents' interaction even when they are asleep. The brain scan research showed that infants respond differently to nonsense phrases read in neutral and angry voices. Indeed,

"Babies whose parents fought often at home had a stronger neurological response to angry tones -- as shown by the intensity of the colors in a computer-generated brain map -- compared to babies form less conflict-ridden households. The strong brain activity was centered in regions associated with the processing of stress and emotion, the first time this pattern has been observed under these conditions" (DaBerko, 2013, 20).

The research indicates that a baby's stress levels can increase when they are in within earshot of arguments (DaBerko, 2013; Graham, 2013; Graham, et al., 2013). The implications are that babies exposed to frequent parental arguments in their early years are vulnerable to psychological damage as they can experience burnout when exposed to the stress of frequent parental fighting: a condition that leave them less able to deal with handling frustration later in life. Moreover, the research indicates that other forms of stressful interactions -- notably childhood bullying -- that predict low-grade systemic inflammation -- indicated by blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) that is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease -- that is still present in adulthood (Copeland, 2014).

Research Problem and Design

Psychological stress in early childhood carries the potential for negative impact that is evidenced in throughout the lifespan of the individual. Rosas, et al. (2012) argue that the income eligibility requirements of state and federally-funded early childhood education programs results in high enrollment of children from families at or below the poverty level. A primary consideration is that "Children and families living in poverty face several risk factors that are associated with children's behavior problems such as harsh discipline, maternal stress, and depression" (Rosas, et al., 2012).

The proposed research would use quantitative methods relying specifically on the responses of parents / guardians / caregivers to the questionnaire items and the DECA assessment. It is entirely possible that the study could be conducted using mixed methods in which the survey questionnaire, for example, contained open-ended questions that would be used to obtain qualitative data -- a step that would enable data triangulation and provide more depth to the study.

Data Collection

Data collection would entail qualitative methods using the DECA assessments and data from survey questionnaires completed by parents / guardians / caregivers about the type and tone of interactions in the home, specifically as the data informs perceptions about the level of conflict in the home environments. Standard methods for increasing the reliability and validity of the instrumentation would be followed.