Abstract
Despite a growing emphasis on gender differences in parental response to childhood illness and disability, relatively few studies have compared how mothers and fathers adapt to having an ill child. This article explores how mothers and fathers of a child with a chronic illness viewed their experience and its impact on family life. Within families, parents typically had a shared view of the experience and its impact on their life as reflected in both the qualitative interview data and quantitative measures of family and individual functioning. In the minority of cases where parents held discrepant views, it was the mother who emphasized the negative aspects of the chronic illness situation. The results of this analysis support the growing emphasis among family researchers on exploring family strengths in the face of illness challenges and collecting data from multiple family members.
Published Version
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