Changes over 15 years in lone parenting of Irish persons with intellectual disability

Abstract

ABSTRACT People with intellectual disability mostly require life-long care that in many countries is provided by parents. The increased risk of marital breakdown in these families has been a focus of attention but the research evidence is contradictory. This study overcomes the methodological shortcomings of past research by using national samples of lone parent carers and making comparisons with lone parenting in the general population based on four national censuses conducted from 2002 to 2016. Just more than one quarter of family carers of persons with intellectual disability in Ireland are lone parents, and the number has risen by nearly 50% in the past 15 years. Compared with the general population, a somewhat higher incidence is more apparent for lone carers of teenagers and young adults with intellectual disability, whereas its incidence is lower with children aged 0–9 years in each of the four census years and also for dependents aged older than 30 years. Only one in four lone carers were reported to receive respite breaks. The findings cautiously suggest that a breakdown in marital or cohabiting arrangements in Ireland is no more common among parents who have a child with an intellectual disability and may occur less often.