Mental Retardation, Parenting Competence and Coping

Mental retardation among children is a source of pain and bewilderment for many families. Children with mental retardation add stress to the family system, but this stress could result in negative or positive adaptation. Just as every family faces a variety of stressors (e.g. illness or loss of job), so also families of children with retardation can be thought of as facing a stressful situation. Mental retardation may be complicated by several different physical and emotional problems. The child may also have difficulty with hearing, sight or speech. In the past, parents were often advised to institutionalize a child with significant mental retardation. Today, the goal is to help the child with mental retardation stay in the family and take part in community life. Mothers are especially influenced by the presence of a disabled child in the family as the increased demands and inconveniences associated with such a situation are still most often met by mothers. Fathers of retarded children have also been found to be depressed, to have lower self-esteem, to express a lack of interpersonal satisfaction and to undergo long-term personality changes resembling a pattern of neuroticism. But there are also findings to the contrary. Most parents with a retarded child, even if they are well adjusted, are likely to experience major psychological stress. Reactions to this stress vary considerably from person to person, but there are some common patterns. The present work is an attempt to study the psychosocial consequences on parents of mentally-challenged children.