Well‐being, involvement in paid work and division of child‐care in parents of children with intellectual disabilities in Sweden

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare mothers' and fathers' involvement in paid work and child-care in families of children with intellectual disability (ID) and control families and to test if differences in well-being between mothers and fathers of children with ID can be explained by differences in involvement in paid work and child-care. Mothers and fathers of 179 children with ID and 196 typically developing children answered mailed surveys on their involvement in paid work, child-care tasks and well-being. Only two-parent families were included. The results show main effects for gender of the parent and presence of a child with ID on involvement in paid work and well-being. Interaction effects indicate that mothers of children with ID are more affected than fathers in their participation in paid work and well-being. A positive relation between level of participation in paid work and well-being was found for both mothers and fathers. No difference in division of child-care tasks was found between families of children with ID and control families. Differences in involvement in paid work and child-care in families of children with ID only explained 5% of the variance in the difference between mothers' and fathers' well-being. Families with children with ID differ from control families in that the parents are less involved in paid work and have lower levels of well-being. A positive relation between involvement in paid work and well-being was found.