Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Parents’ Stress And Early Childhood Caries

Abstract

Background and aims: Early childhood caries is a significant health issue. It is important to understand how the parents’ psychological status affects children’s orodental health. Therefore, the present study evaluated the relationship between parents’ stress and early childhood caries.

Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, 132 children referring to private and public dental clinics in Shahrekord, in the west of Iran, in 2020 were included randomly. The parents’ stress levels were determined using a child-rearing stress questionnaire. The children were assigned to two groups: with caries (n=88) and without caries (n=44). The data were analyzed with SPSS using the chi-squared test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

Results: The mean stress scores of the parents with children with and without caries were 130.06±21.84 and 136.52±17.92, respectively, with no significant difference. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding gender, the fathers’ educational levels, and the parents’ occupations. However, there were significant differences between the two groups in mothers’ educational levels and age (P=0.01, P=0.002, and P<0.001, respectively). Children without early childhood caries had younger mothers with higher educational levels.

Conclusion: Although the parents of children without early childhood caries exhibited higher levels of child-rearing stress, the difference was not significant.