At-risk families live under circumstances that hinder their parenting competences,
compromising their ability to fulfill their children’s needs appropriately. The complex
and multiple-source nature of the adversities that they endure makes family preservation
interventions challenging. Because their efficacy largely depends on the extent to which
interventions fit participants’ needs and characteristics, the aims of this study were to draw
the sociodemographic (individual, family, economic, labor, and child-related variables)
and psychosocial profile (negative life events, parenting stress, and psychological distress
symptomatology) of Spanish and Portuguese family preservation users while testing the
inter-country differences. The results showed that the majority of participants had a low
educational level, were unemployed, and were poor. Spanish and Portuguese participants
had suffered an average of 5 and 4 negative life events over the past 3 years, respectively,
with a high emotional impact. The most common were labor precariousness and economic
hardship. Clinical levels of parenting stress were found in 48.1% of the Spanish participants
and 39.1% of the Portuguese participants. An important proportion of the participants had
clinical levels of psychological distress (Spain = 71.9%; Portugal = 45.8%), indicating the
presence of mental health problems. Families’ support needs are discussed and guidelines for
interventions aimed at improving parents’ and children’s well-being are outlined
