Relationship between perceived parenting style with anxiety levels and loneliness in visually impaired children and adolescents

Abstract

Background: Visual impairment is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders in the affected children and adolescents, but there are only a limited number of studies concerning the mental health characteristics of visually impaired children and adolescents. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine levels of loneliness and anxiety in visually impaired children and adolescents, to analyze parenting style perceived by visually impaired children and adolescents, to compare those with typically controls. Methods: The study included 40 children and adolescents with visually impairment and 34 control group without visual impairment. Sociodemographic data form, the UCLA loneliness scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children were used in both groups. The parenting Style Scale was used to determine perceived parental attitudes. Results: This study found more loneliness and trait anxiety levels in visually impaired children and adolescents compared to the control group. Authoritative parenting style was the most frequent type of parental attitude in the visually impaired group. In visual impairment group, loneliness level was higher in subgroups of authoritative and permissive-indulgent parenting style. However, level of trait anxiety was higher in authoritative parenting style subgroup compared to the control group. Discussion: The results of this study showed higher loneliness and anxiety levels in visually impaired children and adolescents. Further studies are needed to determine psychopathological risks in this population.

Loneliness and associated factors among Brazilian adolescents: results of national adolescent school-based health survey 2015

“…Parents with a harsh authoritarian style also contribute to increased levels of loneliness among adolescents, 24 a finding that corroborates the results of this study in which more participatory parenting reduces the risk of feeling loneliness in this age group. Thus, parents who understand their children's problems and know what they do in their free time are contrary to the idea of authoritarian parents, who abuse disciplinary and coercive power and become aggressors against children and adolescents.…”

“… 21 , 23 On the other hand, conflicting relationships between fathers, mothers and children undermine the concept that the adolescent constructs about certain habits that are detrimental to health, thereby favoring risk behaviors such as smoking among adolescents. 24 …”

Trajectory of adaptations done by families of children and teenagers with low vision

“…1 It is worth mentioning that both cause repercussions in the life and quotidian of the person with VI and his/her family. 2 According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), every 5 seconds one person becomes blind in the world, and around 500 thousand children develop VI every year. In Brazil, 6.5 million Brazilians present some degree of VI, total or partial, affecting all ages.…”

“…4 Caring for a child with VI can lead to numerous difficulties and modifications in the routine of family members, such as the lack of information about strategies for care performing, difficulty in accessing health services, overload, lack of support and prejudice. 2 In this sense, it is necessary to look at the experience of the family in order to understand the difficulties existing to attend the child and the adolescent in chronic condition, and in this article, especially with VI.…”

“…Thus, the nuclear family self-reinforces itself to provide the necessary care, which commonly becomes impeding in the care of children and adolescents with VI. 5,6,7 Still, in this same line, another research emphasizes the need for family adaptations, aiming to coexist with the child in a chronic situation, reaching from preparing the family to providing care until the family reorganization. This path involves emotional issues, the relationship between the mother-father couple, readaptations in the social roles of man and woman, and the professional performance of each family member.…”