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Maternal Stress and the Functions of Positivity in Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability

Jess, M; Totsika, V; Hastings, RP; (2018) Maternal Stress and the Functions of Positivity in Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability. Journal of Child and Family Studies , 27 (11) pp. 3753-3763. 10.1007/s10826-018-1186-1. Green open access

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Abstract

Although mothers raising children with Intellectual Disability (ID) report poorer mental health than parents raising typically developing children, they also report feelings of positivity; both generally and specific to their child. To date little is known about the function of maternal positivity thus, we explored the putative compensatory and protective functions of maternal positivity, within both a cross-sectional and one-year longitudinal framework that examined the relationship between children’s behaviour and mental health problems with maternal mental health problems. Participants included 135 mothers of children with severe ID who were between 3 and 18 years of age. Multiple linear regression models investigated the potential function of maternal positivity. At a cross-sectional level, maternal positivity was found to be a significant independent predictor of maternal stress and moderated the impact of child behaviour problems on maternal parenting stress. Longitudinally, maternal positivity did not have a direct effect on later parenting stress nor function as a moderator. Findings from our cross-sectional analysis are consistent with the view that positivity serves a compensatory function. Further exploration is needed to understand the longitudinal function of maternal positivity.

Type: Article
Title: Maternal Stress and the Functions of Positivity in Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s10826-018-1186-1
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1186-1
Language: English
Additional information: This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10057794
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