Resilience and stigma in mothers of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Resilience training for moms can blunt the sting of stigma when kids with IDD lack prosocial skills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
McLean et al. (2021) asked 108 mothers of kids with ID or delay to fill out a survey. The team wanted to know if child behavior problems and low prosocial skills raise stigma, and whether mom's resilience softens that blow.
They used short rating scales at one point in time. Kids ranged from 3 to 18 years old.
What they found
Mothers felt more stigma when their kids showed emotional outbursts or lacked friendly behaviors. Moms with higher resilience did not feel as stigmatized, even when prosocial skills were low.
Resilience acted like a shield only for the prosocial gap, not for emotional problems.
How this fits with other research
Suzuki et al. (2018) saw the same shield idea: family resilience cut maternal distress as disability severity rose. The pattern matches, just with a different yardstick.
Giofrè et al. (2014) found that social support and money mattered more than child behavior for family resilience. Shaunna’s work adds stigma as a new outcome, showing resilience helps there too.
Azad et al. (2013) tracked stress over time and saw it stay high when behavior stayed rough. Shaunna’s cross-sectional data echo that link, but swap stress for stigma.
Weiss (2002) showed hardiness and support lower stress. Shaunna updates the buffer concept, using the newer term resilience and focusing on stigma instead of stress.
Why it matters
You can’t erase every stare in the grocery store, but you can build mom’s resilience. Add quick resilience checks to parent intake: "When things go wrong, how fast do you bounce back?" If the answer is low, weave brief coping skills into parent training—like 2-minute breathing or setting one tiny daily win. Target prosocial skills in the child at the same time; the combo cuts stigma most.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience frequent and high levels of stigma from family, friends, and members of the public. This stigma can have a negative impact on mothers' psychological well-being, their social circle, and their relationship with their child. AIMS: The present study aimed to establish if there was a relationship between emotional and behavioural difficulties and stigma, and if resilience, social support and parental adjustment acted as a protective factors in this relationship. METHODS: 108 mothers of children aged between four and 16 years old with IDD participated in a cross-sectional online survey. Mothers were asked about their child's behavioural difficulties, their experience of stigma, in addition to completing assessments of resilience, social support, and parental adjustment. RESULTS: Overall child behavioural and emotional difficulties, and the sub domain emotional problems, hyperactivity, and low prosocial behaviour were found to be a significant independent predictors of stigma. Resilience was associated with stigma and moderated the relationship between low prosocial behaviour and stigma. There was no evidence that social support or parental attachment acted as protective factors in the relationship between child behavioural difficulties and stigma. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study extend the findings of previous research by providing evidence that families of children with a range of developmental disabilities experience stigma, in particular when children show high levels of emotional problems and hyperactivity, and low levels of prosocial behaviour. The present study also provides evidence that resilience is associated with stigma and resilience-building interventions may be beneficial to reduce the negative impact of stigma.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103818