Multiplicative regression for education level, dysfunctional parenting, and gratitude parents of special needs children

Education for children with special needs is not easy to carry out, especially in the pandemic COVID-19. All activities are centered at home. The parenting process is carried out entirely by parents. This study investigates how dysfunctional parenting which happens in special children can be reduced if parents increase gratitude. This study uses a quantitative approach with multiplicative regression data analysis techniques because the moderator variable is a stratified categorical variable. The level of a parent’s education is a moderating variable to determine whether it has a positive role in reducing dysfunctional parenting or not. Subjects are 61 parents who have special children. Data were collected using a Parenting Scale consisting of 30 items, a gratitude scale consisting of 36 items, and the level of parental education. The results showed that the more grateful parents were, the lower the dysfunctional parenting. In addition, the level of education also increases the causal relationship, although it does not have a significant effect. This can be seen from the increase in r-square with the inclusion of the moderator variable education level.