Social support and negative life events of mothers with developmentally delayed children.
The purpose of this study was to obtain an understanding of social support and its relationship to negative life events experienced by mothers of developmentally delayed children. The subjects were 91 mothers of children age 6-months to 3-years-old with developmental disabilities. Questionnaires were completed anonymously by the respondents and returned by mail to the investigator. The measure of social support, the Personal Resource Questionnaire, provided three estimates of support: the availability of a number of resources, the satisfaction with help obtained during problem life situations, and perceived support. The Life Experience Survey provided the estimate of negative life events. The findings of this study indicated that the mothers with a high impact of negative events over the past year felt less supported as measured by perceived support and felt less average satisfaction with the help obtained during problems. The relationship between negative life events was maintained whether negative life events were measured subjectively (impact) or objectively (number). Thus, the more struggles these mothers had, the less they felt supported.
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002668:Child Rearing; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications