Well-being of mothers while rearing a child with developmental disabilities.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The research questions in this investigation go beyond the disability focused (pathogenic) paradigm typically found in studies on families of a child with developmental disabilities (DD). Instead this research investigates the continuum of maternal well-being and provides a new direction for practitioners to not only focus on family problems, but also on psychological health, and what promotes it.
Data were obtained on the experiences of 57 mothers rearing a child with DD in a metropolitan area. In a written survey, mother's responded to questions about their ability to cope, parental competency, life satisfaction, physical health, social support, and the familial demographic condition. The findings of this study are consistent with recently reported research (Judge, 1998; Turnbull & Ruef, 1996) that parents with children with DD are not all doing poorly. In fact, the findings of this study show that many mothers report that they are coping well or very well.
A combination of child, mother and family variables was identified and found to significantly contribute to the mothers' coping and life satisfaction responses. The finding that economic pressure, social support, child's age, and mother's health together accounted for 50% of the variance in maternal coping and that economic pressure and the presence of an additional child with a disability contributed to 41% of the variance in maternal life satisfaction highlights the complex interplay among the three demographic conditions.
The results of this study provide empirical validation of the expectation that there is a full range of values in the variables coping, parental competency, life satisfaction, and well-being among mothers rearing a child with DD. By understanding the constellation of factors contributing to how well the family functions, service providers will be better equipped to design individualized strategies to habilitate families who reside with their child(ren) with DD. To continue to build a theory of family stress and coping, as well as to expand our ability to empower families, the multiple variables that influence the experience of change, transitions, and adversity within the family context of a child with DD will need to be investigated in greater breadth and depth.