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Associations of social support and hardiness with mental health among mothers of adult children with intellectual disability
Author(s) -
BenZur H.,
Duvdevany I.,
Lury L.
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2005.00662.x
Subject(s) - hardiness (plants) , mental health , psychology , social support , multilevel model , intellectual disability , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , gerontology , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , machine learning , computer science , horticulture , cultivar , biology
Background The study was conducted with mothers of adult children with developmental disabilities and had two aims: (1) to examine the mental health, resources and stress among mothers who keep their adult child at home vs. those who choose placement in a community arrangement; and (2) to assess the associations of mothers’ resources and stress with mental health. Method A sample of 100 mothers (mean age 60.67 years) of adult children with intellectual disability, 50% of whom had been placed in a community arrangement were asked to complete questionnaires measuring mental health, stress, hardiness and social support. Results The comparisons between mothers who had placed their adult child in a community arrangement and those who had kept their child at home showed no significant differences for most indicators. Mental health, stress, hardiness and social support were highly intercorrelated, as expected, and hierarchical regression analyses indicated independent effects of stress, hardiness and out‐of‐home placement on mental health. Conclusions The findings suggest that strengthening personal and social resources of mothers of adult children with developmental disabilities may be beneficial for their mental health.