This study tracked parental stress among 115 mothers of infants and toddlers with disabilities to evaluate patterns of stability and change in parental adaptation during the early childhood period. Parents were given the Parenting Stress Index three times: upon entry into an early intervention program, 1 year later, and when the child reached age…

This presentation describes research on families with mentally retarded children, focusing on trends since 1983, the year that family research issues were reconceptualized in a paper titled "A Model of Stress, Coping, and Family Ecology" by Keith Crnic and others. The trend analysis concentrates on four issues: (1) the magnitude of the impact of…

This paper describes the use of various coping strategies of mothers of adult children with mental retardation, and examines whether there is a relation between specific styles of coping and maternal characteristics and personal well-being. A group of 349 mothers completed the "Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced" scale. On average,…