Well-being, involvement in paid work and division of child-care in parents of children with intellectual disabilities in Sweden.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to compare mothers' and fathers' involvement in paid work and child-care in families of children with intellectual disability (ID) and control families and to test if differences in well-being between mothers and fathers of children with ID can be explained by differences in involvement in paid work and child-care.


METHODS
Mothers and fathers of 179 children with ID and 196 typically developing children answered mailed surveys on their involvement in paid work, child-care tasks and well-being. Only two-parent families were included.


RESULTS
The results show main effects for gender of the parent and presence of a child with ID on involvement in paid work and well-being. Interaction effects indicate that mothers of children with ID are more affected than fathers in their participation in paid work and well-being. A positive relation between level of participation in paid work and well-being was found for both mothers and fathers. No difference in division of child-care tasks was found between families of children with ID and control families. Differences in involvement in paid work and child-care in families of children with ID only explained 5% of the variance in the difference between mothers' and fathers' well-being.


CONCLUSIONS
Families with children with ID differ from control families in that the parents are less involved in paid work and have lower levels of well-being. A positive relation between involvement in paid work and well-being was found.
Olsson
M B
MB
Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden. malin.olsson@psy.gu.se
Hwang
C P
CP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008607:Intellectual Disability; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data