Unsupportive parenting and internalising behaviour problems in children with or without intellectual disability.
Preschoolers with ID get more negative parenting, and a sad dad doubles their risk of anxiety and depression.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents of preschoolers to fill out surveys. Half the kids had intellectual disability. Half were typically developing.
Parents rated their own parenting style and mood. They also scored their child’s anxiety and sadness.
What they found
Children with ID received more unsupportive parenting. When dads felt depressed, these kids showed more worry and sadness.
The same link did not show up in typically developing children.
How this fits with other research
Amaral et al. (2019) looked at older kids with ID and found ASD, ADHD, pain and bullying also raise depression risk. Together the two studies say: watch both parenting and medical-social stressors.
Taylor et al. (2010) seems to disagree. They saw that marital quality predicted later behavior problems only in typically developing kids, not in ID. The difference is outcome: they measured broad behavior, we measure anxiety and sadness. Parenting style still matters for internalizing in ID.
Koskentausta et al. (2007) and Fine et al. (2005) listed low SES, single-parent homes and language delays as red flags. Our paper adds father depression and unsupportive parenting to that list for preschoolers.
Why it matters
You can screen dads for depression at the same time you assess the child. A quick mood check takes five minutes. If Dad scores high, link him to support or brief therapy. While he gets help, teach both parents active listening, labeled praise and clear commands. These small changes cut child anxiety and build the warm environment kids with ID need to thrive.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disability (ID) are at heightened risk for developing other psychological disorders, including internalising disorders. Anxiety and depression have been shown to be familial, and parenting is a contributing factor to the development of these disorders. To extend this research, we examined the extent to which mother and father depression and negative, unsupportive parenting related to child internalising behaviour problems, in children with ID or with typical development (TD). METHOD: Participants were 156 mother and father dyads and their children, assessed at ages 4 and 5 years. We examined parent (mother and father) and child delay status (ID and TD) in relation to measures of both observed and self-reported unsupportive, negative parenting. Utilising moderation models, we examined the relationship between parental depression, unsupportive/negative parenting and child internalising behaviour problems. RESULTS: Unsupportive, negative parenting differed based on parent gender and child delay status. In addition, father depression was a significant moderator of the relationship between unsupportive parenting and child internalising behaviour problems. CONCLUSIONS: Children with ID were found to be at higher risk of experiencing unsupportive, negative parenting than children with TD. Children of depressed fathers were especially vulnerable to developing internalising behaviour problems in an unsupportive parenting context.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2016 · doi:10.1111/jir.12332