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Stress in Parents of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities Attending Special Olympics Competitions
Author(s) -
Weiss Jonathan A.,
Diamond Terry
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3148.2005.00234.x
Subject(s) - attendance , intellectual disability , psychology , test (biology) , stress (linguistics) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , economics , biology , economic growth
Background It is important to determine how programmes serving the individual with intellectual disability may also help to reduce stress in parents of adult children with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to test whether parents who frequently watch their children at Special Olympics (SO) competitions report less stress than those who watch with less frequency. Methods A total of 57 mothers and 39 fathers completed the Parenting Stress Index in reference to their children with intellectual disability, whose ages ranged from 17 to 42.3 years. Frequency of parental attendance at competition and volunteering for SO was also assessed. Results Parents who frequently attended their children's competitions reported less stress than those who attended with less frequency. Mothers who volunteer, reported more child‐related stress than those who did not. A number of other gender‐specific relations were found. Conclusions These results support the hypothesis that parents who frequently see their children compete in SO have a more positive parent–child experience than those who do not attend with the same frequency. Experimental research, with controlled pre–post designs, is needed to directly assess any causal effect.