Associations of parenting stress with coping strategies, dental fear, and behaviour during dental treatment in school-aged children: a cross-sectional study

Background: Parenting stress can affect coping strategies and behaviour problems among children in nondental settings. Objective: To evaluate the associations of parenting stress with children’s coping strategies, dental fear, and behaviour during dental treatment in school-aged children. Methods: This cross-sectional study included n = 168 children aged 8–12 years who required dental treatment under local anaesthesia. The accompanying parents completed the Parental Stress Scale (PSS), and the children completed the Dental Coping Questionnaire (DCQ) and the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) prior to the start of the treatment procedure. The behaviour of the children was evaluated during their treatment period using Frankl’s behaviour rating scale. The associations of parenting stress with the measured parameters were analysed via chi-square test, Spearman’s correlation, Kruskal‒Wallis test, Mann‒Whitney U test, and generalised linear model, with statistical significance set at p ≤ 0.05. Results: No significant correlation between the PSS score and the percentage frequency of use of destructive, external, and internal coping strategies was detected. There was no significant difference in the PSS scores of parents between children who had no clinical dental fear (CFDSS score < 32), borderline dental fear (CFSS-DS score 32–38) and clinical dental fear (CFSS-DS score ≥ 39) or between children with uncooperative (Frankl scores 1 and 2) and cooperative behaviour (Frankl scores 3 and 4). No significant associations between PSS scores and the study variables were detected via the generalised linear model. Conclusion: Parenting stress does not significantly influence children’s utilisation of coping strategies, dental fear or behavioural responses during dental procedures among children aged 8–12 years.