The level of basic hope, the sense of coherence and life satisfaction in mothers of an adolescent only child with moderate intellectual disability

Abstract

Analysis of Polish statistical, demographic and sociological data confirms the growing need for research on only children and their families. Over the last few years, however, with the growth in the number of only children, researchers have been showing little interest in the functioning of children, adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities who have no siblings, and their families' members.The theoretical part of the article presents the functioning and problems of parents of adolescent children with intellectual disabilities. The specific situation of mothers is taken into consideration. The empirical part presents the findings of a study on the level of basic hope, the sense of coherence and life satisfaction in mothers of an adolescent only child with moderate intellectual disability.Three assessment tools were used in the study: the Basic Hope Inventory - a revised version (BHI-R) – by J. Trzebiński and M. Zięba, the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29) by A. Antonovsky, and the Satisfaction with Individual Life Domains Scale by J. Czapiński. The study covered two 36-person groups of mothers with one child and mothers with more than one child aged 15-19 with moderate intellectual disabilities.The findings showed that there were no significant differences between the mothers with one child and the mothers with more than one child in the level of basic hope, the sense of coherence and its components, and life satisfaction. However, the mothers with one child had higher scores on all variables studied. The mothers with one child differed from the mothers with more than one child in a statistically significantly higher level of satisfaction with their education. Mothers of adolescents with multiple disabilities had significantly lower scores for the level of basic hope and significantly higher scores for the level of work satisfaction.