TITLE:
Raising a Child with Down Syndrome: Do Preferred Coping Strategies Explain Differences in Parental Health?
AUTHORS:
Tatjana Alexander, Julia Walendzik
KEYWORDS:
Down Syndrome, Intellectual Disability, Mental Health, Parents, Coping
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.1,
January
12,
2016
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to determine coping strategies which may represent important personal resources and have a buffering effect in preventing mental health problems in parents of children with Down syndrome. Forty-nine parents of children with Down syndrome completed self-administrated measures of psychological and physical health problems, and coping behaviour, using several established measuring instruments. According to the hierarchical regression analyses, parents who often used regenerative coping strategies, and who experienced positive personal changes in terms of posttraumatic growth suffered from less anxiety and somatisation symptoms, whereas dysfunctional coping was the best predictor for parental depression and physical symptoms. Regenerative coping mediated between parental tendency to recognize their emotional needs and somatisation symptoms. Intervention programs for families of children with Down syndrome may benefit if they address parents’ reflection about their feelings, foster posttraumatic growth processes, and impart knowledge about long-term regenerative coping strategies.