Longitudinal changes in well-being of parents of individuals with developmental or mental health problems

Abstract

Rationale: A large body of work demonstrates the impact of caregiving burden on the well-being of parents of individuals with developmental conditions or mental health problems. However, a relative dearth of research examines this impact longitudinally into parents' older age.

Objective: The current study examines (1) longitudinal changes in the effect of having a child with a developmental or mental health problem on parental negative affect, psychological well-being, and somatic symptoms, (2) age and gender moderations on these effects, and (3) the unique impact of factors related to the child's condition.

Method: This study employs hierarchical linear regression models to examine longitudinal survey data from midlife adults (N = 1,101) from two waves of the National Study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS).

Results: Models revealed some evidence for age attenuation of the impact of caregiving stress. Parents of children with developmental problems still had higher negative affect, poorer psychological well-being, and more somatic symptoms on average than parents in a comparison sample, whereas parents of children with mental health problems only showed evidence of higher negative affect compared to this sample. Within-group analyses also revealed differences between each parenting group into later adulthood.

Conclusions: Parents of individuals with developmental or mental health problems may be at risk for poorer well-being late in life. Yet, age and gender differences as well as diagnostic group differences nuance these findings.

Keywords: Caregiving stress; Developmental disabilities; Longitudinal; Mental health problems; Negative affect; Psychological well-being; Somatic symptoms; United States.

Fig. 1

Parental Well-being by Parenting Type at Two Timepoints. Parental well-being is displayed in standardized units due to differences in units between scales. Raw values for group means and standard deviations are displayed in Table 2. Specific results of a Group × Time ANOVA for each outcome are displayed in Table 2.

Fig. 2

Negative Affect by Parenting Type and Age. Older parents experienced declines in negative affect over time, while younger parents did not experience this benefit. Slopes that contributed to a significant interaction effect are denoted with an asterisk (*). Simple slopes test revealed that there was a positive association between parenting a child with a developmental condition and negative affect for parents 63.12 years and younger.

Fig. 3

Negative Affect by Parenting Type and Gender. Fathers of individuals with mental health problems experienced increases in negative affect, while mothers did not. Slopes that contributed to a significant interaction effect are denoted with an asterisk (*). Simple slopes test revealed that the association between parenting a child with a mental health problem and negative affect was significant and positive for fathers but not mothers.