Handicapped children and handicapped families

Fotheringham, John B.; Creal, Dorothy

doi:10.1007/bf01666615

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Therefore, it is possible that the challenging impact of disability sometimes experienced by parents (e.g. Fotheringham & Creel, 1974;Gallagher et al, 1983;Minnes, 1988;Wikler, 1986) may be shared by other family members.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between attitude to disabled siblings and ratings of behavioural competency

Wilson

McGillivray

Zetlin

1992

J intellect Disabil Res

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The impact of maturation factors and Auctioning level on the relationship between disabled and non-disabled siblings was examined. Two groups of adults, distinguished by level of functioning of their mentally retarded sibling, completed a Schaefer Sibling Behavior Inventory (SBI) and participated in a semi-structured interview. The latter explored a number of dimensions of the relationship including degree of warmth, contact and involvement. Judgements about involvement and comfort as remembered from the past and judgements about the present were obtained to derive hypotheses about possible changes with time. Data from the SBI indicated that si^iificantly more competent siblings tended to be involved in relationships with a higher degree of reciprocity. In contrast, measures of attitude derived from interview data did not appear to relate to the functioning level of the sibling in any systematic manner. The results suggest that level of discomfort with peers may decrease significantly over the years with neither level of functioning nor gender being important variables. "The extent to which non-disabled individuals expressed a preparedness to participate in the life of their disabled sibling may relate to the life-stage of the two. Males in particular anticipated increased future involvement. Although higher-functioning siblings were described as more active in the relationship, this did not appear to influence perceived positiveness of regard. The implications of these results are discussed briefly. disabled siblings have appeared in the literature (Correa et al., 1986;Hannah & Midlarsky, 1985;Simeonsson & McHale, 1981). The hypothesis underlying many of the reported studies is that there exists some fundamental qualitative difference between this relationship and the normal sibling relationship which may have implications for the psychological functioning of the non-disabled brother or sister. Results are equiyocal, with other variables such as age, gender, severity and type of disability, birth order, and family structure having an important contributory role (Breslau, 1982;Breslau et al.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between attitude to disabled siblings and ratings of behavioural competency

Wilson

McGillivray

Zetlin

1992

J intellect Disabil Res

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“…Some studies regarded the initial reactions of parents to the birth of the handicapped child as a major problem. Common reactions included shock, denial, sadness, anger, depression and a sense of injustice (Drotar, Baskiewicz, Irvin, Kennell, & Klaus, 1975;Fotheringham & Creal, 1974;Kew, 1975;McAndrew, 1976).…”

Section: Stress and Adaptation In Parents Of Youngmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Most studies concentrated on describing the personal and psychological responses of the parents wihtout consideration for how those responses might have been moderated by outside factors. Yet, researchers have suggested that the adaptation of families with handicapped children will be influenced by the interactional effects of variables such as the child's characteristics (Beckman-Bell, 1981), the family members' characteristics Gallagher, Beckman, & Cross, 1983;Fotheringham & Creal, 1974), and outside influences and resources (Fotheringham & Creal, 1974). An important outside resource that may mediate parental adaptation is social support (Farber, 1959;Fotheringham & Creal, 1974).…”

Section: Stress and Adaptation In Parents Of Youngmentioning

confidence: 98%

Stress and Adaptation in Parents of Young Handicapped and Nonhandicapped Children: A Comparative Study

Dyson

Fewell²

1986

Journal of the Division for Early Childhood

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Three questions were asked in this study; (1) Do parents of handicapped children experience more stress than parents of nonhandicapped children? (2) What are the sources of stress for parents of handicapped children? and (3) is stress in the parents of handicapped children mediated by an external factor of social support? Findings Indicate significantly greater stress in the families with handicapped children, and four factors are identified as significantly related to stress in these families. Perceived family support was significantly greater for families with handicapped children, and although nonsignificant (p < .057), findings suggest that families with handicapped children who have more support have less stress. Results are discussed in rotation to previous findings, particularly with regard to how the age of the child may be a critical factor determining family adjustment. m A current trend in intervention programs for young handicapped children is the movement of services from a narrowly focused child-centered base to a much broader family-centered orientation. This shift calls for an understanding of the family unit, the family's sources of support, the interactions among family members, their values and coping skills, and the stresses in their lives. Particular concerns are the parental stress that results from having a handicapped child and how that stress affects the parents, the child, and the family as a whole.Parents always want healthy, happy, &dquo;normal&dquo; children. It is natural that parents are disappointed and sad when their child has identified problems that will require many special services throughout his or her life. During the last two decades, the adaptations of families of handicapped children have become the concern of researchers. Adaptation has been studied as a general response to stress. Philp and Duckworth (1982) theorized that the presence of a child with disablement (a stress factor) would produce special problems (stress events) leading to felt needs which in turn result in a stress effect. Researchers have thus far concerned themselves with two major issues: (1) whether families of handicapped children experience more stress than other families and (2) the types of problems encountered by families of handicapped children. In most studies, stress was evident in marital difficulties, psychological dysfunctioning, and health problems in the parents. Lower marital integration has been found in families with a mentally retarded child living at home (Farber, 1959) and in families with various kinds of handicapped children (Friedrich & Friedrich, 1981). A higher than average rate of marital breakdown was reported for parents of infants with Down syndrome (Gath, 1977) and parents of children

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