Stress, social support and well-being of Arab mothers of children with intellectual disability who are served by welfare services in northern Israel.
For Arab moms of kids with ID, friends and family ease stress; welfare offices alone do not.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers talked to Arab mothers in northern Israel who have a child with intellectual disability. All families were already getting welfare services.
The team asked how much help moms got from relatives, friends, and neighbors. They also asked about money worries, marriage strain, and personal well-being.
What they found
Moms with bigger informal networks felt less money stress and less marriage stress. They also reported higher well-being.
Surprise: the amount of formal welfare help had no clear link to stress or happiness.
How this fits with other research
Cox et al. (2015) saw the same pattern in Latino and White moms. Partner emotional support raised parenting confidence and life satisfaction.
Benson (2016) tracked U.S. moms of kids with ASD for seven years. Larger supportive networks cut depression the same way.
Yamaoka et al. (2022) seems to disagree. They found moms of kids in special-ed schools had worse health and weaker neighbor ties. The gap is sample type: Yui compared all special-ed moms to regular-school moms, while Tsao et al. (2003) looked only at Arab moms and asked how network size matters within that group.
Why it matters
Spend session time mapping each mom's real-life helpers, not just service hours. Ask who watches the child, who lends money, who listens. Build goals that grow these ties, like inviting a cousin to training or setting up a parent coffee hour. Formal services still help, but natural support does the heavy lifting on stress.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The present study examined the influence of a social support system on the level of stress and the sense of personal well-being of 100 Israeli Arab mothers of young children with special needs. METHODS: Fifty mothers were served by the welfare services in the Nazareth area while 50 did not get help on a regular basis. A comparison was done between educated, urban mothers, and less-educated, rural mothers. RESULTS: The research results point to a relationship between informal support resources, and the marital and economic stress of the mothers: the higher the amount of the informal support resources, the lower the level of stress that was experienced by the mothers. A relationship between the amount of informal support and level of parental stress was not confirmed. A relationship between the amount of support resources and the personal well-being of the mothers was found: the higher the amount of informal support resources, the higher the sense of well-being of the mothers. A relationship between formal support (the welfare services), and level of stress or personal well-being was not found. Education and place of living were not related to level of stress or personal well-being. Educated mothers from urban areas used the formal support (the welfare services) less than less-educated mothers who lived in rural areas. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are interpreted with respect to practice and previous studies.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2003 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2003.00488.x