Disabled Children - The psychological status of parents and the social network of siblings

Abstract: In the present dissertation I survey the results of research carried out in Estonia andSweden regarding the personality characteristics, self-esteem, emotional states anddepression symptoms in parents of disabled children. Social relations and self-esteem of siblings of disabled children are also investigated. The general aim of thecurrent study was to investigate the situation of the parents and siblings ofintellectually disabled children. The first aim was to measure personalitycharacteristics and self-esteem in parents of disabled children and parents of non-disabled children in Sweden and in Estonia. The second aim was to comparepersonality characteristics of parents of disabled children with Estonian norms forthe general population. The third aim was to tind out if there were any differencesbetween parents of disabled children and non-disabled children with reference fodepression symptoms and emotional states. The fourth aim of this study was to findout whether siblings of disabled children differ with respect to social relations, atschool and at home, personality and self-esteem compared to a control group.The methods used in the tirst study were the Adjective Check List (ACL) by Goughand Heilbrun (1983), Eysenck Personality Inventory; EPI (1987) and Self-EsteemInventories, Adult form (SEI) by Coopersmith (1990). In the second study I used ative-factor personality inventoq (NEO-PI). The third investigation was carried outin Estonia and focused on depressive symptoms and emotional states. BeckDepression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961) and emotional states scale by Leskinen(1994) were used. In the fourth investigation sixty siblings of disabled children and acontrol group of sixty siblings of normally developed children aged 12 to 14 werestudied. A questionnaire developed by Andersson (1997) was used.Comparisons of the two parent groups did not give any statistically significantdifferences with respect to EPI and SE1 in the Swedish-Estonian study (Lawenius, &Veisson, 1996). However, the results of the Estonian study showed that parents ofdisabled children were significantly more introvert than parents of non-disabledchildren. Comparisons of personality characteristics between the two groups gavethe following results: 1) mothers and fathers of disabled children have a signiticantlylower Extraversion and Openness level compared to the Estonian norms for womenand men; 2) in Neuroticism mothers of disabled children score higher than theEstonian women s norm, but fathers score higher only in some Neuroticism facets;3) concerning Agreeableness, neither mothers nor fathers differ from Estoniannorms; 4) in Conscientiousness fathers of disabled children score higher than thenorms for men, but the data of mothers do not differ. The results of the third studyshowed that parents, especially mothers of disabled children, had signiticantly morenegative emotional states and also significantly more depressive symptoms thanparents in the control group. Signiticant differences in depression symptoms betweenthe disabled and control parent groups were found in most cases. In the siblinginvestigation (fourth study) the results showed that there were a number ofsignificant differences bemeen the two groups.Key words: Parents, children, mental retardation, siblings of disabled children,personality traits, depression symptoms, emotional states, siblings social relations.Marika Veisson, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Narva Road 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia. Fax: 372 6409118, E-mail: [email protected] 11O1-718X ISRN GU/PSYK/AVH--78--SE