Premium
Depression in mothers and fathers of children with intellectual disability
Author(s) -
Olsson M. B.,
Hwang C. P.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2788.2001.00372.x
Subject(s) - autism , depression (economics) , psychology , intellectual disability , beck depression inventory , psychiatry , clinical psychology , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics
Parental depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in 216 families with children with autism and/or intellectual disability (ID), and in 214 control families. Mothers with children with autism had higher depression scores (mean = 11.8) than mothers of children with ID without autism (mean = 9.2), who in turn, had higher depression scores than fathers of children with autism (mean = 6.2), fathers of children with ID without autism (mean = 5.0), and control mothers (mean = 5.0) and fathers (mean = 4.1). Forty‐five per cent of mothers with children with ID without autism and 50% of mothers with children with autism had elevated depression scores (BDI > 9), compared to 15–21% in the other groups. Single mothers of children with disabilities were found to be more vulnerable to severe depression than mothers living with a partner.