Parents of Children with Developmental Difficulties and Parents of Typically Developed Children: What Happens in a Year?

Lana Lučić

doi:10.3390/bs10010004

Abstract

Parents of children with developmental difficulties (DD) face many challenges on an everyday basis and, compared to a parent of a typically developed child (TD), are at risk to experience lower well-being. Earlier, as a part of the CRO-WELL project, we explored differences in the well-being of parents of children with DD and a matching group of parents of TD children. Results showed that both groups of parents were equally happy and satisfied with their lives in general, with only a difference in satisfaction with free time. The aim of the current study was to explore what happened in one-year’s time. Out of the initial sample of 41 parents by group, the second wave was completed by 19 parents of DD children and 27 parents of TD children. Results showed that parents of children with DD were less satisfied with life in general, as well as less happy and less satisfied with health, family, friends, and safety compared to parents of TD children. They also experienced three times more negative events than parents of TD children. Having a child with developmental difficulties reflects on many life domains and these results could serve as a guidepost in the design of support for families of children with developmental difficulties. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Highlights

We often hear someone say that parenting is the most important and the hardest job in the world.It brings a lot of joy, and forces one to change the daily routine, adapt to new life circumstances, and take responsibility for a child that needs to be raised
Overall life satisfaction and happiness were assessed as two general indicators of well-being (Table 2)
Results showed that parents of children with developmental difficulties were less satisfied with their lives and reported a lower level of happiness

Summary

Introduction

We often hear someone say that parenting is the most important and the hardest job in the world It brings a lot of joy, and forces one to change the daily routine, adapt to new life circumstances, and take responsibility for a child that needs to be raised. Research was focused on negative outcomes of parenting a child with DD, like chronic sorrow [1], depression [2,3], high levels of stress [4,5], increased divorce rates [6], and a lack of free time [7,8]. Parental distress and risk of depression among parents of children with autism were higher compared to both parents of typically developed children and parents of children with a different type of developmental difficulty [12,13,14,15,16]. Other researchers focused more on positive outcomes and found that parenting a child with DD may provide benefits and positive contributions for parents [17] and lead to additional growth and new self-perception [18,19], transformation of beliefs and value systems, priorities and worldview, spiritual experiences, as well as a stronger sense of coherence

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion