A study of expressed emotion in the parental primary carers of adolescents with intellectual impairment

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Expressed emotion (EE) was measured in the parental primary carer (carer) of 92 adolescents with intellectual impairment to examine its associated characteristics. High EE was mainly a result of high levels of emotional overinvolvement. High EE was associated with psychological illhealth, poor‐quality marriage and poor practical social support of the carer, and psychiatric disorder in the adolescent with intellectual impairment. This suggests that EE may be a useful indicator of coping difficulties in these families. The subgroup of high EE emotional overinvolvement was associated with a carer with more psychological illhealth, a worse‐quality marriage, less practical social support, greater professional support and an insecure style of respite care usage for an adolescent of greater intellectual impairment. The subgroup of criticism have an adolescent of less severe intellectual impairment, more behavioural disturbance and yet the carer has less professional support. Appreciation of the quality of the relationship of the carer with their dependent family member may enable greater understanding of how to improve the quality of life for both the carer and the cared for.

Predictors of mental health problems and negative caregiving experiences in carers of adolescents with bulimia nervosa

“…High EE and high levels of patient-caregiver contact have both been found to predict carer distress levels in diverse populations. 33,11,16,17,29 In the present study, self-reported EE and total weekly contact hours predicted a negative experience of caregiving, suggesting that the relationships between EE, patient-carer contact time and caregiver outcomes may be mediated by a negative caregiving experience, as proposed by the research model. A path analysis 30 to test this hypothesis as conducted by Schene et al (1998) was outside of the scope of our study, given the comparatively small sample size.…”

Changes in the Mother–Child Relationship During the Transition to Adulthood for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…In our studies (Taylor and Seltzer 2010a, b), youth with ASD without ID had more pronounced slowing in behavioral phenotypic improvement after high school exit, and were more likely to have insufficient or no daytime activities during the years after exit relative to youth with ASD and comorbid ID. Furthermore, Dossetor et al (1994) found higher rates of criticism among parents of adolescents who had less severe ID compared to more severe, and interpreted these findings in light of parental attributions about the behaviors of their son or daughter. It is a well-established finding that caregivers who attribute a family member's problematic behaviors as controllable by that individual have higher levels of criticism and lower levels of warmth, relative to caregivers who attribute the behaviors to uncontrollable causes (Barrowclough and Hooley 2003; Tarrier et al 2002; Weisman et al 1993).…”

Expressed emotion in families of children and adults with intellectual disabilities

“…A preponderance of EOI was also found by Dossetor et al [1994]. These researchers completed the CFI with family carers of 92 adolescents who attended schools for children with severe intellectual disabilities.…”