Mothers' expressed emotion towards children with and without intellectual disabilities.
Kids with ID spark hotter mom emotion, yet moms who make peace with the diagnosis stay kind during play.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Burack et al. (2004) asked mothers how they talk and feel about each child.
Mothers had one child with intellectual disability and one without.
They filled out surveys and joined short interviews at home.
What they found
Mothers showed more negative emotion toward the child with ID.
The same child also had more behavior problems.
Oddly, mothers who showed high emotion said they felt more satisfied with parenting.
How this fits with other research
Leung et al. (2011) extend this idea. They found preschoolers with ID who act “disruptive” raise maternal stress the most.
Feniger-Schaal et al. (2013) add a twist. After mothers accept the ID diagnosis, they play more gently, even if the child still acts out.
Bizzego et al. (2020) widen the lens. In low-income countries kids with ID often miss learning games. Parent education, not just emotion, shapes what happens at home.
Why it matters
Child problems drive mom’s mood, but mom’s mindset can swing back and shape care.
When you coach parents, target both sides: teach coping with tough behavior and help them process the diagnosis.
A calmer, resolved parent gives the child better moments to learn.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with maternal expressed emotion (EE) towards their child with intellectual disability (ID). DESIGN AND METHOD: A total of 33 mothers who had a child with ID and at least one child without disabilities between the ages of 4 and 14 years participated in the study. Mothers completed self-assessment questionnaires which addressed their sense of parenting competence, beliefs about child-rearing practices, and their reports of behavioural and emotional problems of their child with ID. Telephone interviews were conducted to assess maternal EE towards the child with ID and towards a sibling using the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS; Magana et al. 1986), and also to assess the adaptive behaviour of the child with ID using the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale (VABS; Sparrow et al. 1984). RESULTS: Mothers with high EE towards their child with ID were more satisfied with their parenting ability, and their children had more behaviour problems. Analysis of differential maternal parenting, through comparisons of EE towards their two children, showed that mothers were more negative towards their child with ID for all domains of the FMSS except dissatisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: A small number of factors associated with maternal EE towards children with ID were identified. Differences in maternal EE towards their child with ID and their other child suggest that EE is child-driven rather than a general maternal characteristic. Implications of the data for future research are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2004 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2003.00564.x