Supervisors info:
Τσαμπαρλή Αναστασία (επιβλέπουσα), Καθηγήτρια Πανεπιστημίου Αιγαίου
Ίσαρη Φιλία, Καθηγήτρια Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Κουνενού Καλλιόπη, Καθηγήτρια Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Summary:
The quality of marital relationship according to the child’s disability is a relatively recent field of research in the international bibliography. The factors that determine its quality is directly intertwined with the dynamics of family environment. The disability of the child is an unexpected fact of the family life cycle and inevitably affects and modulates the family functioning. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects that the child’s disability induces on marital relationship quality, when children are at preschool or school age.
The sample consisted of 110 participants (N=110), of which 38 (34,5%) were male and 72 (65,5%) were female. Regarding the data collection, the following tests were administered to the participants: (a) The demographic questionnaire, (b) The Marital Happiness Scale (Azrin, Naster & Jones, 1973), (c) The Short Form Social Support Questionnaire -SSQ- 6- (Kafetsios, 1998), (d) The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes & Rahe, 1967), and (e) they answered the open question whether they believe that their child’s disability affects the quality of the relationship with their husband/wife, and if it does in which way. Regarding the statistical analysis of our data, the software package Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22) was used.
According to research findings, in families with disabled children appears to be a statistically significant effect of child psychopathology on the perceived satisfaction of parents from their marital relationship, with the parents of children with learning difficulties experiencing higher levels of marital satisfaction compared to the parents of children with ADHD. Subsequently, there was no statistically significant effect of age-related variables of disabled child, parents’ educational level and gender on the marital satisfaction variable. Finally, there was found a statistically significant difference in the averages of parents with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and those with ADHD and learning difficulties, with the former experiencing lower levels of social support and satisfaction from social support.
Keywords:
marital relationship, marital relationship quality, marital satisfaction, children with disabilities, children with autism, children with ADHD, children with learning disabilities, family
