The role of marital quality and spousal support in behaviour problems of children with and without intellectual disability.
A poor marriage forecasts later behavior problems for typically developing kids, not for kids with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Taylor et al. (2010) followed two groups of six-year-olds. One group had intellectual disability. The other group was typically developing.
Parents answered questions about their marriage. Six years later the team checked each child’s behavior problems.
What they found
For typically developing kids, a rocky marriage at age six predicted more behavior problems at age twelve.
For kids with ID, the same link did not show up. Parenting stress explained part of the link only in the TD group.
How this fits with other research
Condy et al. (2021) looked only at ID families and found that when moms feel better about their partner, the whole family seems to work better. This supports the idea that couple happiness matters, but it may show up as family mood rather than later child behavior.
Enav et al. (2020) tested a stress model in both ID and TD homes. They saw that lowering mom stress helped parenting in both groups, but dad stress mattered only for TD kids. Together with Natalie’s paper, a pattern appears: moms and dads may travel different roads in ID families.
Vassos et al. (2016) showed that unsupportive parenting plus depressed dads raised anxiety in preschoolers with ID. This adds weight to the view that parent feelings matter, yet the link between couple bond and child outcome is not one-size-fits-all.
Why it matters
If you work with TD kids, strengthening the parents’ marriage or lowering parenting stress could prevent later behavior issues. If you work with kids with ID, target stress directly and do not assume couple therapy will echo down to the child’s behavior in the same way. Always assess both parents separately—moms and dads may respond to different levers.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability (ID) have been found to be at an increased risk for developing behavioural problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the marital domain, including marital quality and spousal support, and behaviour problems in children with and without ID. METHODS: The relationship between the marital domain and child behaviour problems was examined in 132 families of 6-year-olds with and without ID. Using hierarchical regression, these relationships were also studied over time from child ages 6-8 years. Child behaviour problems were assessed with mother-reported Child Behavior Checklist. The marital domain was measured using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale-7 and the Spousal Support and Agreement Scale. Mother-reported parenting stress and observed parenting practices were tested as potential mediators of the relationship between the marital domain and child behaviour problems. RESULTS: Mean levels of the marital domain were not significantly different between typically developing (TD) and ID groups, but there were significantly greater levels of variance in reported marital quality in the ID group at ages 6, 7 and 8. The marital domain score at child age 6 years predicted child behaviour problems at age 8 for the TD group only. This predictive relationship appeared to be a unidirectional effect, as child behaviour problems at age 6 were not found to predict levels of the marital domain at age 8. Parenting stress partially mediated this relationship for the TD group. CONCLUSIONS: The marital domain may have a greater impact on behavioural outcomes for TD children. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2010 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01293.x