When a child grows up with a social, physical or intellectual disability as a result of developmental problems, parents are confronted with additional challenges in raising children, such as providing appropriate care and uncertainties about their child's development and future. Current family research among parents raising a child with developmental disabilities focuses primarily on how parents feel (i.e., parental stress and well-being), particularly studying the challenges parents experience. The current dissertation aims to broaden this perspective by applying three innovative approaches. First, this dissertation seeks to broaden the focus on how parents feel by also examining what parents do when interacting with their child (i.e., specific parenting behaviors). Secondly, this thesis adopts a more balanced perspective by focusing on the variation in both 'challenging' (e.g., distress-undermining parenting behaviour, child behavioral and emotional problems, parental stress, experiences of distress frustration) and 'positive ' aspects (e.g., distress-supportive parenting behavior, psychosocial strengths in children, positive family climate, experiences of distress satisfaction) of the parenting experience and children's psychosocial development. Thirdly, this thesis is based on an innovative 'cross-disability' approach, in which the parenting experience and the psychosocial development of children is mapped across four groups, namely parents of children with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and a reference group of parents raising a child without a disability. This approach offers the opportunity to identify important generic parenting processes, but also leaves room to highlight more disability-specific sensitivities that can further inform parent support and family interventions.