Behavior disorders and mental retardation: the family system perspective.
Among families of kids with moderate ID, child problems and family climate each raise parent stress—but moms feel it through behavior, dads through family coldness.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked to the families who had a child with moderate intellectual disability. They asked moms and dads to fill out three short forms about child behavior, family climate, and their own stress.
Each parent answered alone so the researchers could see if mothers and fathers felt the same.
What they found
Family climate scores looked the same across families. Yet child behavior problems predicted stress in different ways for each parent.
For moms, tough child behavior raised stress. For dads, a cold family climate raised stress more than the child’s behavior did.
How this fits with other research
Yorke et al. (2018) pooled 63 studies and found the same link: more child behavior problems mean more parent stress. Their meta-analysis puts the 1989 numbers inside today’s bigger picture.
Jackson et al. (2025) later tracked families for two years. They showed poverty first hits the parent-child bond, then the child. That longitudinal step builds on the 1989 cross-sectional snapshot.
Lanfranchi et al. (2012) looked at four genetic syndromes. They also found child traits drive stress, but added that parent locus of control matters. The 1989 study did not measure that trait, so the 2012 work extends the same idea.
Why it matters
You already screen for child behavior, but this paper tells you to ask separate questions of each caregiver. Mom may need help managing tantrums, while dad may need help warming up family routines. A quick parent-only form at intake can show which door to open first.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate feelings of stress among parents of mentally retarded children who demonstrate behavior disorders. The interrelations of the children's pathology and family climate variables with the levels of parental stress were studied. The sample consisted of 39 families with moderately mentally retarded children divided into two groups: Children demonstrating disruptive behavior (n = 17), and children who did not demonstrate behavior disorders (n = 22). The instruments included the Child Behavior Checklist, the Classroom Behavior Inventory, the Family Environment Scale, and the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress. Significant differences between the children's levels of pathology validated the two groups' division. The children with disruptive behavior were described by their parents as more hyperactive and aggressive, and were described by their teachers as more distractable and dependent on adults. No significant differences were found between the profiles of family climate among the two groups of parents. However, levels of children's pathology and aspects of family climate predicted the parental stress, pinpointing different patterns of variables for fathers and mothers. Further studies should be addressed to the interrelations between children's pathology, family climate, and parental feelings of stress.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1989 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(89)90019-x