The Experience of Stress and Personal Growth Among Grandparents of Children With and Without Intellectual Disability

Abstract

The aim of this research was to examine the contribution of internal and external resources to stress and personal growth among grandparents of children with and without an intellectual disability. Ninety-four grandparents of children with intellectual disability and 105 grandparents of children without intellectual disability completed the following scales: Multidimensional Experience of Grandparenthood; Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support, Level of Differentiation of Self Scale, Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Results indicate that group differences are reflected in higher negative emotions among grandparents of children without intellectual disability. In addition, both stress and growth are related to better health, lower level of education, family cohesiveness, and negative emotions. However, whereas stress is associated with the internal resource of self-differentiation, the external resource of social support, and the cost of grandparenthood, growth is associated with gender and the symbolic and behavioral aspects of the grandparenting role. This study aimed to correct the nearly exclusive focus in the literature on negativity, stress, and the burden of grandparenting children with intellectual disability, as well as to test the pervasive assumption that the absence of disability results in an almost entirely positive grandparenting experience with nearly no negative affect.