Resilience of parents having children with intellectual disability: Influence of parent and child related demographic factors

Pages: 707-710
Anugraha Merin Rajan and J. Romate (Department of Psychology, Central University of Karnataka, Gulbarga)
G. Srikrishna (Department of Rehabilitation Psychology, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad)

Resilience is an important phenomena explains the parental process of making quality adaptations involved in raising a child with intellectual disability. The present study examined the resilience of parents having children with intellectual disability and analysed it across the demographic variables related to parents (age, gender, education, years lived with the child after diagnosis) as well as children (age, gender, intelligence quotient).Sixty parents (30 fathers and 30 mothers; mean age: 38.93±8.06) having children with intellectual disability recruited through purposive sampling were assessed using Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (2003).Parents displayed qualities of resilience with half of them reporting high resilience. Among the demographic variables, t test revealed that education made a significant difference in their experience of resilience. However resilience was found to be functioning independent of parental age, gender, and years lived with the child after diagnosis; child’s age, gender and IQ.The study highlighted the internal strengths possessed by the parents in the midst of hassles associated with raising a child with intellectual disability. Utilizing these strengths in the rehabilitation process can improve the quality of life of them as well as the child with intellectual disability.