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This study examined the effects of work schedule flexibility and the spillover of work stress to family life on the health of parents of adult children with serious mental illness (SMI). The authors compared 100 parents of adult children with SMI to 500 parents with nondisabled adult children using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The detrimental impact on health of a lack of work flexibility and of higher levels of negative work‐to‐family spillover was more pronounced among parents of adult children with SMI than parents with nondisabled adult children. The results have significant implications for developing interventions to help midlife families of persons with SMI cope with work‐related stress and for policies that provide for greater work schedule flexibility.

Drawing on modified labeling theory and the reflected appraisals process and using longitudinal data from 129 mothers and their adult children with schizophrenia, we estimate models of the effects of mothers' stigmatized identity appraisals of their mentally ill children on reflected and self-appraisals, and how appraisals affect outcomes (symptoms, self-efficacy, life satisfaction). Results indicate that initial symptoms and functioning are related to how significant others think about their ill family members, how persons with mental illness think others perceive them, and how they perceive themselves. Part of the effects of initial symptoms and functioning on reflected appraisals are due to mothers' appraisals. A small part of the effects of outcomes on self-appraisals are due to others' and reflected appraisals. Stigmatized self-appraisals are related to outcomes, but reflected appraisals do not affect outcomes directly. Implications for modified labeling theory and social psychological processes in recovery from mental illness are discussed.

This article examines (a) the impact of having a child with a disability on parents' mental and physical health among urban-dwelling African Americans and (b) the extent to which positive and negative social interactions with family members other than the spouse moderate the impact of child's disability on parental adaptation. Analyses are based on a probability sample of African Americans living in Milwaukee, Wisc. The analytic sample includes 48 parents of children with a disability and 144 comparison group parents of nondisabled children. Results showed that having a child with a disability is associated with more somatic symptoms. However, the negative consequences of the child's disability on parents' mental health are reduced when parents receive greater positive support from family.

Abstract  Little is known about the impact on the family of caring for an individual with both intellectual disability and a mental‐health problem. We examined the relationship between depressive symptoms in adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability and concurrent maternal well‐being as measured by depression, pessimism, subjective burden, and the mother's perception of the quality of the relationship with her son or daughter. We also examined the extent to which the adult's depressive symptoms predicted later maternal well‐being after controlling for behavior problems and identified covariates. Seventy‐one interviews were conducted with mothers regarding their own well‐being and their children's behavior problems as part of a larger longitudinal study of mothers more than 55 years old caring for a coresiding adult son or daughter with intellectual disability. The adult with mild to moderate intellectual disability was interviewed about his or her depressive symptoms. The depressive symptoms of the adult with intellectual disability were correlated with concurrent maternal depression, and were predictive of future maternal depression, pessimism, and subjective burden. They also predict some measures of maternal well‐being, and do so beyond what is predicted by behavior problems. These findings suggest that raising an adult child with a dual diagnosis may be more stressful than raising an adult child with intellectual disability only.

This study examines the long‐term effects of child death on bereaved parents' health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we compared 233 bereaved couples and 229 comparison couples (mean age = 65.11 years) and examined the life course effects of child death on parents' HRQoL. Variations in bereavement effects were examined by gender and for different causes of death. Bereaved parents had significantly worse HRQoL than comparison group parents, and there was no evidence of gender differences for this effect. With respect to the cause of a child's death, bereaved parents whose child died in violent circumstances had particularly low levels of HRQoL. Multilevel models indicated that marital closeness mitigated the negative effects of bereavement.

The effect of daily work stress on the next morning's awakening cortisol level was determined in a sample of 124 mothers (M age = 49.89, SD = 6.33) of adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities and compared to 115 mothers (M age = 46.19, SD = 7.08) of individuals without disabilities. Mothers participated in 8 days of diary telephone interviews and provided saliva samples. Multilevel models revealed that mothers of individuals with developmental disabilities had lower awakening cortisol levels than comparison mothers. Work stress interacted with parental status to predict the awakening cortisol level on the following morning. When mothers of individuals with developmental disabilities experienced a work stressor, their awakening cortisol level was significantly higher on the subsequent morning, but for comparison mothers, work stressors were not significantly associated with cortisol level. Findings extend understanding of the differential impacts of specific types of stressors on physiological functioning of mothers of individuals with and without developmental disabilities.