This study assessed the effects of social support and hardiness on the level of stress in mothers of typical children and children with developmental disabilities. One hundred and twenty mothers participated (40 mothers of children with autism, 40 mothers of children with mental retardation, and 40 mothers of typically developing children). Results indicated significant group differences in ratings of depression, anxiety, somatic complaints and burnout. Regression analyses were conducted to determine the best predictors of the dependent measures. Both hardiness and social support were predictive of successful adaptation. The relationships among hardiness, support and coping are discussed.
AFFLECK, G. & TENNEN, H. (1993) ‘Cognitive Adaptation to Adversity: Insights from Parents of Medically Fragile Infants’, in A. TURNBULL, J.M. PATTERSON, S. BEHR, D. MURPHY, J.G. MARQUIS & M.J. BLUE-BANNING (eds) Cognitive Coping, Families and Disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
2.
ALBANESE, A.L. , SAN MIGUEL, S.K. & KOEGEL, R.L. (1996) ‘Social Support for Families’, in R.L. KOEGEL & L.K. KOEGEL (eds) Teaching Children with Autism: Strategies for Initiating Positive Interactions and Improving Learning Opportunities. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
3.
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION (1987) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn rev. (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA.
4.
BARRERA, M. JR , SANDLER, I.N. & RAMSAY, T.B. (1981) ‘Preliminary Development of a Scale of Social Support: Studies on College Students’, American Journal of Community Psychology9: 435-447.
5.
BECK, A. (1978) Beck Depression Inventory. Philadelphia, PA: Center for Cognitive Therapy.
6.
BECK, A.T. , WARD, C.H., MENDELSON, M., MOCK, J. & ERBAUGH, J. (1961) ‘An Inventory for Measuring Depression’, Archives of General Psychiatry4: 53-63.
7.
BEHR, S. & MURPHY, D.L. (1993) ‘Research Progress and Promise: The Role of Perceptions in Cognitive Adaptation to Disability’, in A. TURNBULL, J.M. PATTERSON, S. BEHR, D. MURPHY, J.G. MARQUIS & M.J. BLUE-BANNING (eds) Cognitive Coping, Families, and Disability. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
8.
BOUMA, R. & SCHWEITZER, R. (1990) ‘The Impact of Chronic Childhood Illness on Family Stress: A Comparison between Autism and Cystic Fibrosis’, Journal of Clinical Psychology46: 722-730.
9.
BOYCE, G. , BEHL, D., MORTENSEN, L. & AKERS, J. (1991) ‘Child Characteristics, Demographics, and Family Processes: Their Effects on the Stress Experienced by Families of Children with Disabilities’, Counseling Psychology Quarterly4: 273-288.
10.
BRISTOL, M.M. (1984) ‘Family Resources and Successful Adaptation to Autistic Children’, in E. SCHOPLER & G.B. MESIBOV (eds) The Effects of Autism on the Family, pp. 289-310. New York: Plenum.
11.
BRISTOL, M.M. (1985) ‘Designing Programs for Young Developmentally Disabled Children: A Family Systems Approach to Autism’, RASE6: 46-53.
12.
BRISTOL, M.M. (1986) ‘The Home Care of Developmentally Disabled Children: Empirical Support for a Model of Successful Family Coping with Stress’, in S. LANDESMAN-DWYER & P. VIETZE (eds) Living with Mentally Retarded Persons, pp. 120-146. Washington, DC: American Association of Mental Deficiency.
13.
BRISTOL, M.M. & SCHOPLER, E. (1983) ‘Stress and Coping in Families of Autistic Adolescents’, in E. SCHOPLER & G.B. MESIBOV (eds) Autism in Adolescents and Adults, pp. 251-278. New York: Plenum.
14.
BYRNE, E.A. & CUNNINGHAM, C.C. (1985) ‘The Effects of Mentally Handicapped Children on Families: A Conceptual Review’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry26: 847-864.
15.
CAPLAN, R.D. , COBB, S., FRENCH, R.P., VAN HARRISON, R. & PINNEAU, S.R. (1975) Job Demands and Worker Health. Washington, DC: US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
16.
COHEN, F. & HOBERMAN, H. (1983) ‘Positive Events and Social Supports as Buffers of Life Change Stress’, Journal of Applied Social Psychology13: 99-125.
17.
COHEN, F. & LAZARUS, R. (1979) ‘Coping with the Stress of Illness’, in G.C. STONE, F. COHEN & N. ADLER (eds) Health Psychology: A Handbook, pp. 140-168. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
18.
DEMYER, M.K. (1979) Parents and Children in Autism. New York: Wiley.
19.
DONOVAN, A.M. (1988) ‘Family Stress and Ways of Coping with Adolescents Who Have Handicaps: Maternal Perceptions’, American Journal of Mental Retardation92: 502-509.
20.
DYSON, L. & FEWELL, R.R. (1986) ‘Sources of Stress and Adaptation of Parents of Young Handicapped Children’, unpublished manuscript, University of Washington, Seattle.
21.
FARRAN, D.C. & SPARLING, J. (1988) ‘Coping Styles in Families of Handicapped Children’, in E.D. HIBBS (ed.) Children and Families: Studies in Prevention and Intervention, pp. 351-366. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
22.
FARRAN, D.C. , METZGER, J. & SPARLING, J. (1986) ‘Immediate and Continuing Adaptations in Parents of Handicapped Children: a model and an illustration’, in J.J. GALLAGHER & P.M. VIETZE (eds) Families of Handicapped Persons, pp. 143-156. Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes.
23.
FERRARI, M. (1982) ‘Chronically Ill Children and Their Siblings: Some Psychosocial Implications’, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ.
24.
FIGLEY, C.R. (1983) ‘Catastrophes: An Overview of Family Reactions’, in C.R. FIGLEY & H.I. MCCUBBIN (eds) Stress and the Family: Coping with Catastrophe, pp. 3-20. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
25.
FREEMAN, N.L. , PERRY, A. & FACTOR, D.C. (1991) ‘Child Behaviors as Stressors: Replicating and Extending the Use of the CARS as a Measure of Stress: A Research Note’, Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 32 (6): 1025-1030.
26.
GALLAGHER, J.J. , CROSS, A. & SCHARFMAN, W. (1981) ‘Parental Adaptation to a Young Handicapped Child: The Father’s Role’, Journal of the Division for Early Childhood1: 3-14.
27.
GANELLEN, R.J. & BLANEY, P.H. (1984) ‘Hardiness and Social Support as Moderators of Life Stress’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology47: 156-163.
GILL, M.J. & HARRIS, S.L. (1991) ‘Hardiness and Social Support as Predictors of Psychological Discomfort in Mothers of Children with Autism’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders21: 407-416.
30.
HARRIS, S.L. (1982) ‘A Family Systems Approach to Behavioral Training with Parents of Autistic Children’, Child and Family Behavior Therapy4: 21-35.
31.
HARRIS, S.L. (1984) ‘The Family and the Autistic Child: A Behavioral Perspective’, Family Practice, 33: 127-134.
32.
HILL, R. (1949) Families under Stress. New York: Harper & Row.
33.
HILL, R. (1958) ‘Generic Features of Families under Stress’, Social Case Work49: 139-150.
34.
HOLROYD, J. (1974) ‘The Questionnaire on Resources and Stress: An Instrument to Measure Family Response to a Handicapped Member’, Journal of Community Psychology2: 92-94.
35.
HOLROYD, J. & MCARTHUR, D. (1976) ‘Mental Retardation and Stress on the Parents: A Contrast between Down’s Syndrome and Childhood Autism’, American Journal of Mental Deficiency80: 431-436.
36.
HONIG, A.S. & WINGER, C.J. (1997) ‘A Professional Support Program for Families of Handicapped Preschoolers: Decrease in Maternal Stress’, The Journal of Primary Prevention17: 285-296.
37.
HOUSER, R.A. (1987) ‘A Comparison of Stress and Coping by Fathers of Mentally Retarded and Non-Retarded Adolescents’, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
38.
JOHNSON, J.H. & SARASON, I.G. (1978) ‘Life Stress, Depression, and Anxiety: Internal-External Control as a Moderator Variable’, Journal of Psychosomatic Research22: 205-208.
39.
KAZAK, A.E. & MARVIN, R.S. (1984) ‘Differences, Difficulties, and Adaptation: Stress and Social Networks in Families with a Handicapped Child’, Family Relations33: 67-77.
40.
KAZAK, A. & WILCOX, B. (1984) ‘The Structure and Function of Social Support Networks in Families with Handicapped Children’, American Journal of Community Psychology12: 645-661.
41.
KIMMEL, D. & VAN DER VEEN, F. (1974) ‘Factors of Mental Adjustment in Locke’s Marital Adjustment Test’, Journal of Marriage and the Family2: 57-63.
42.
KOBASA, S.C. (1979) ‘Stressful Life Events, Personality, and Health: An Inquiry into Hardiness’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology37: 1-11.
43.
KOEGEL, R.L. , SCHREIBMAN, L., LOOS, L.M., DIRLICH-WILHELM, H., DUNLAP, G., ROBBINS, F.R. & PLIENIS, A.J. (1992) ‘Consistent Stress Profiles in Mothers of Children with Autism’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders22: 205-216.
44.
LAZARUS, R. & FOLKMAN, S. (1984) Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer.
45.
LOCKE, H.J. & WALLACE, K.M. (1959) ‘Short-Term Marital Adjustment and Prediction Tests: Their Reliability and Validity’, Journal of Marriage and Family Living21: 251-255.
46.
LYON, S. & PREIS, A. (1983) ‘Working with Families of Severely Handicapped Persons’, in M. SELIGMAN (ed.) The Family with a Handicapped Child, pp. 203-232. New York: Grune & Stratton.
47.
MADDI, S.R. , KOBASA, S.C. & HOOVER, M. (1979) ‘An Alienation Test’, Journal of Humanistic Psychology19: 73-76.
48.
MARCUS, L.M. (1977) ‘Patterns of Coping in Families of Psychotic Children’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry47: 388-398.
49.
MARSH, D.T. (1993) Families and Mental Retardation. New York: Praeger.
MCCUBBIN, H. (1979) ‘Integrating Coping Behavior in Family Stress Theory’, Journal of Marriage and the Family41: 237-244.
52.
MCCUBBIN, H. & PATTERSON, J. (1982) ‘Family Adaptation to Crisis’, in H.I. MCCUBBIN, A.E. CAUBLE & J.M. PATTERSON (eds) Family Stress, Coping, and Social Support, pp. 26-47. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
53.
MCCUBBIN, H. & PATTERSON, J. (1983a) ‘Family Stress Adaptation: A Double ABCX Model of Family Behavior’, in H. MCCUBBIN, M. SUSSMAN & J. PATTERSON (eds) Social Stress and the Family: Advances and Developments in Family Stress Theory and Research, pp. 7-37. New York: Haworth.
54.
MCCUBBIN, H. & PATTERSON, J. (1983b) ‘The Family Stress Process: The Double ABCX Model of Family Adjustment and Adaptation’, Marriage and Family Review6: 7-37.
55.
MOES, D. (1996) ‘Parent Education and Parenting Stress’, in R.L. KOEGEL & L.K. KOEGEL (eds) Teaching Children with Autism: Strategies for Initiating Positive Interaction and Improving Learning Opportunities. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
56.
MOES, D. , KOEGEL, R.L., SCHREIBMAN, L. & LOOS, L.M. (1992) ‘Stress Profiles for Mothers and Fathers of Children with Autism’, Psychological Reports71: 1272-1274.
57.
RICHMAN, N. (1977) ‘Behavior Problems in Preschool Children: Family and Social Factors’, British Journal of Psychiatry131: 525-527.
58.
RODRIQUE, J.R. , MORGAN, S.B. & GEFFKEN, G. (1990) ‘Families of Autistic Children: Psychosocial Functioning of Mothers’, Journal of Clinical Child Psychology19: 371-379.
59.
SELIGMAN, M.E.P. (1991) Learned Optimism. New York: Knopf.
60.
SELIGMAN, M. & DARLING, R.B. (1997) Ordinary Families, Special Children. New York: Guilford.
61.
SOBOTOR, W.J. (1989) ‘Family Coping with Stressors: A Theoretical Approach’, in S.C. KLAGSBRUN, G.W. KILMAN, E.J. CLARK, A.H. KUTSCHER, R. DEBELLIS & C.A. LAMBERT (eds) Preventive Psychiatry: Early Intervention and Situational Crisis Management, pp. 43-58. Philadelphia, PA: Charles.
VENTERS, M. (1982) ‘Familial Coping with Chronic and Severe Illness: The Case of Cystic Fibrosis’, in H. MCCUBBIN (ed.) Family Stress, Coping, and Social Support, pp. 120-149. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
64.
WIKLER, L.M. (1986) ‘Family Stress Theory and Research on Families of Children with Mental Retardation’, in J.J. VIETZE (ed.) Families of Handicapped Persons, pp. 167-196. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
65.
WOLF, L.C. , NOH, S., FISMAN, S.N. & SPEECHLEY, M. (1989) ‘Psychological Effects of Parenting Stress on Parents of Autistic Children’, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders19: 157-166.
