Parental appraisal of the family impact of childhood developmental disability: times of sadness and times of joy.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Parental positive and negative appraisals of the family impact of childhood disability are tested as early predictors of parental self-esteem and overall family adjustment in households with young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

METHOD:
Within 103 Canadian families, 103 mothers and 55 fathers independently completed interviews in their home at two time points:
6 months after their child entered childhood disability services (T1), and one year later (T2).

RESULTS:
Longer-term family adjustment was found to be predicted by level of parental negative appraisal of the family impact of disability, and by level of self-esteem, for both mothers and fathers. For mothers, positive appraisal of childhood disability was also found to predict early family adjustment and was related to enhanced self-esteem.

CONCLUSIONS:
Gender differences in parental appraisal of the family impact of childhood disability appear to merge over time. Both positive and negative appraisals appear to coexist and are predictive of mothers' and fathers' perceived overall family adjustment in the longer term.

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Author information

Author/s: Trute, Barry (B); Hiebert-Murphy, Diane (D); Levine, Kathryn (K);

Affiliation: University of Calgary, Canada. btrute(-atsign-)ucalgary.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of intellectual & developmental disability (J Intellect Dev Disabil), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Mar; vol 32 (issue 1) : pp 1-9

Dates: Created 2007/03/16; Completed 2007/06/28;

PMID: 17365362, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Child, Preschool
Cost of Illness
Developmental Disabilities - psychology
Disabled Children - psychology
Emotions
Family Relations

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