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STRESSORS, OUTCOME DYSFUNCTION, AND RESOURCES IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPS
Abstract
There has been consistent documentation of the relationship between stressful life events and subsequent change in both physical and psychological health. The significant correlations reported are usually less than .40 and thus a significant proportion of the variance is unaccounted. Thus, some individuals with a great cumulation of stressful life events do not have the predicted health changes indicative of their lifestyle. Moderator variables have been propose as a buffer in protecting individuals from the detrimental effects of stressful life events. The present study examined the relationships among stressors, stress, and resources in mothers of handicapped children. The questions addressed were as follows: What is the relationship between the problems associated with a handicapped child and the mother's marital adjustment and perception of physical health? Do other sources of stress in the family contribute to the stressful effect of the handicapped child? Can resources available to families of the handicapped children buffer the stressor related changes likely to occur in the mother's health and marital adjustment? Data were gathered through a questionnaire-interview of mothers (n = 105) with handicapped children. The sample was representative of families who have enrolled their child in a habilitation program or who belonged to a parent support group or both. Twelve functional categories of handicapped children (degrees and types of physical handicaps and mental retardation) were represented. Demographic data were obtained on the families' socioeconomic status, family developmental stage, race, child's sex, and age. The Handicap Related Events Checklist (HREC) was a 46 true-false item questionnaire developed by the author to assess in quantifiable terms the problems related directly to the handicapped child. The Short Marital Adjustment Test (MARRADJ) and the somatization factor of the Hopkins Symptom Check List (MATHEALTH) were used to assess the mother's marital adjustment and perception of physical health. RESOURCES were assessed using an instrument specifically developed to measure physical help, emotional support, and satisfaction with community resources, etc., in families with handicapped children. Other sources of stress (OSS) in the family were measured using a modified administration of Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Each variable was scored on a continuous distribution. The OUTCOME variable was an equally weighted combination of the marital adjustment and maternal health scores. The sample correlation of -.37 obtained between HREC and OUTCOME demonstrates that the higher the number of problems, as related to the handicapped child, the greater the risk for dysfunction in health and marriage. The contribution of other sources of stress in the family (OSS) was statistically removed through partial correlation, and the resultant correlation was reduced to -.29. This reduction indicates that only a small proportion of variance (4%) in OUTCOME is explained by OSS. Most important was the finding that when the contribution of the RESOURCES variable was held constant to the relationship between HREC and OUTCOME, the correlation dropped from -.37 to -.05. This demonstrates the buffering potential of RESOURCES in protecting the mother from the stress-induced dysfunction due to problems in adjustment from raising a handicapped child. Multiple regression equations revealed that only the number of the child's problems and the resources available to the family related significantly to health and marital dysfunction (r = .72, p < .001). The families' socioeconomic status, developmental stage, race, and the child's age and sex contributed virtually nothing to the explained variance in health and marital dysfunction. Directions for further research and implications for professionals in clinical services to families of handicapped children were discussed.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
PETERSEN, PAUL CHRISTIAN, "STRESSORS, OUTCOME DYSFUNCTION, AND RESOURCES IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH HANDICAPS" (1981). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8118178.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8118178