Love of Life and Life Satisfaction among Parents of Autistic and Mentally Retarded Children and Parents of Normal Children

Abstract

The Love of Life Scale (LLS) and the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS) were administered to 400 parents living in the East of Libya (200 men and 200 women), including 120 with an autistic child and 80 with a mentally retarded child. Both scales had high reliabilities as indicated by Cronbach’s alpha and item-total correlations. Factor analysis extracted only one major factor from each of the two scales. Also a combined factor analysis of the two scales produced a single major factor indicating a strong “general factor of well-being”, although a three-factor solution produced interpretable results showing three different facets of well-being measured by these scales. Gender differences were minimal on both scales. Parents with only normal children obtained higher mean total scores on both scales than parents with a retarded or autistic child. In addition, parents with very good self-reported health obtained statistically higher mean total scores on both scales than those who claimed otherwise. The results confirm the place of the love of life construct in the “well-being nexus”. Key Words: Love of life; Life satisfaction; Libya; Reliability; Validity; Autism; Mental retardation