Stress and coping in mothers caring for a child with severe learning difficulties: A test of Lazarus' transactional model of coping

Abstract

The literature on psychological stress among women consistently points to the adverse effects of child rearing on mothers, particularly those caring for children with physical or mental handicaps. Early studies of the effects on family functioning of caring for a child with severe learning difficulties adopted a pathological approach in which it was assumed that psychological distress was inevitable among family members, particularly mothers. Recent research has emphasised that many families cope with and adapt to the stress they experience, and seeks to discover how they do so.The paper reports on a study of 166 mothers caring for a child with severe learning difficulties. The aim of the study was to investigate both the factors associated with maternal stress and those which might mediate or buffer the effects of stress. The study used the Folkman and Lazarus ' (1979) transactional model of stress. Stress is the condition that results when persodenvironment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy between the demands of a situation and hisher resources or ability to cope with those demands. The nature and type of coping generated by a person will be determined by the coping resources in the person's environment. The model identifies five categories of coping resource: utilitarian resources, healtWmorale, social networks, general and specific beliefs, and problem solving skills. In our study, the five coping resources were represented by the mother's social class and appraisal of her financial worries, physical health, social support, acceptance of and adjustment to the child, and assessment of coping skills. Stress was measured by the Malaise Inventory (Rutter, 1970).Four of the five coping resources were found to be significant contributors in a hierarchical regression analysis of stress scores, contributing additional variance beyond that of behavioural and other child characteristics. Altogether, 55% of the variance in stress scores was explained.

Income and Occupation as Correlates of Well-Being of Caregivers of Children with Disabilities in South-Western Nigeria

“…Also in concordance with this finding Schofield, Bloch, Herrman, Murphy, Nankervis and Singh (1998) submitted that financial difficulties were associated with poorer well-being in the caregivers (as cited by Savage & Baile, 2004). Quine and Pahl (1991) in consistent with these findings affirmed that being middle class with few financial worries appeared to protect the result of stressful behaviour for mothers of children with severe learning difficulties. A plausible explanation to caregivers' low psycho-social well-being may be that caregivers who believe there is little or nothing they can do as a result of their low level of education have little motivation to engage in what is typically viewed as health-engendering behaviours such as regular physician visits.…”

Caring for children with learning disabilities who present problem behaviours: a maternal perspective

“…The theoretical cognitive model of stress and coping (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) has been used to explain this interaction (Beresford, 1994a;Quine and Pahl, 1991). Within this model, personal coping resources include physical and mental health, personality, beliefs and adaptability, interpersonal, problem-solving and parenting skills, whereas socio-ecological resources include informal (partner, relatives, community) and formal networks which can offer practical, emotional, material and financial support.…”

“…Other personal coping resources that mediate stress include maternal health (Sharpley et al, 1997), adjustment to the disability (Quine and Pahl, 1991), positive frames of reference (Harris and McHale, 1989) and religious beliefs (Rogers-Dulan, 1998). Socio-ecological resources which help include partner support (Gowen et al, 1989), quality of family relationships (Dyson, 1993), extended family support (Sharpley et al, 1997), peer support (Stallard and Lenton, 1992) and socio-economic status (Quine and Pahl, 1991).…”

A Study on Hopelessness Levels in Children With and Without Hearing Impairment

“…In fact, educational level of mother has an impact on determination of strategies developed by children when they encounter a problem and on their behaviors. Furthermore, it has been determined that problem-solving skills of highly educated parents are better than other parents and these parents can better identify adaptation strategies (Quine & Pahl, 1991). Haveman, Gottlieb, and Heller (1997) reported that mothers with lower educational level spend less time for themselves and experience more intense care responsibilities for their children.…”