Coping strategy use, personality, and adjustment of parents rearing children with developmental disabilities.
BACKGROUND
Parents rearing children with developmental disabilities encounter stressors that require coping and adaptation. In Glidden et al. 2006, the use of problem-focused coping strategies was more often associated with positive adjustment outcomes than was the use of emotion-focused coping strategies, and parental personality was shown to influence outcomes, with Neuroticism, in particular, associated with lower well-being.


METHODS
In the current study we aimed to replicate these results for adjustment outcomes measured 6 years later. Sixty-eight married couples parenting at least one child with developmental disabilities completed measures of depression and subjective well-being, and the Transition Daily Rewards and Worries Questionnaire, an inventory that assesses parental reaction to children transitioning into adulthood.


RESULTS
For both mothers and fathers, combinations of personality factors and coping strategies were able to significantly predict outcome variables measured 6 years later. Personality, however, was a better predictor for mothers, whereas coping strategies predicted more variance for fathers. Distancing, especially, demonstrated mother-father differences.


CONCLUSIONS
For the most part, the current results demonstrated that the relations among personality, coping and parental outcomes were consistent and stable over the 6-year interval. In addition, although we found some differences between mothers and fathers, there were also many similarities in the frequency of use of different coping strategies, and in the direction of influence of personality and coping strategy on outcome variables.
Glidden
L M
LM
Department of Psychology, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, MD 20686, USA. lmglidden@smcm.edu
Natcher
A L
AL
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D002658:Developmental Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D011340:Problem Solving; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires