engleski

Well-being of parents of children with developmental difficulties

Parenting a child with developmental difficulties (CDD) is very stressful and it is fair to assume that those life circumstances result in lower levels of well-being when compared to parents of typically developed children (TDC). But, research so far have showed mixed results: while some confirm the thesis, others found that there are no differences between well-being of CDD’s or TDC’s parents. Current study was conducted as a part of an online longitudinal study of well- being in Croatia open to all adult citizens. Research goals were (1) to compare well-being of two groups of parents at time 1 and time 2 using several indicators: happiness, life satisfaction, personal well-being index, flourishing, experienced positive and negative emotions ; (2) compare life events that occurred in one-year time. Initial sample consisted of 41 parents of CDD that were than matched to 41 parents of TDC. At time 2, there were 19 parents of CDD and 27 of TDC. Results showed that two groups of parents were similar in well-being at time 1, with only difference in satisfaction with health and free time, but at time 2 parents of CDD experienced a drop in well-being. Analyzing life events, parents of CDD experienced in one year three times more negative events and evaluated life events to be less positive and more negative than parents of TDC. These findings could help legislators and NGOs to identify where change is most needed to preserve well-being of this sensitive group.

parents of children with disability ; well-being ; life events ; positive and negative emotions

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