Work

Lifelong Parenting of Adults With Developmental Disabilities: Growth Trends Over 20 Years in Midlife and Later Life

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: This research examined how parenting adults with developmental disabilities affects parental well-being beyond midlife and into old age. Parents of adults with developmental disabilities ( n = 249) and parents of adults without disabilities ( n = 9,016), studied in their early 50s and mid-60s, were longitudinally tracked into their early 70s. Compared to parents of adults without disabilities, parents of adults with disabilities showed a pattern of normative functioning in their 50s, followed by poorer well-being in their mid-60s, and further declines in health and well-being into the early 70s. Aging parents who co-resided with their adult child with disabilities were particularly vulnerable, experiencing a steeper increase in depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI) than parents whose child with disabilities lived away from home.

Source: American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-123.3.228

Authors: Eun Ha Namkung, Jan S. Greenberg, Marsha R. Mailick, Frank J. Floyd

Institutions: University of Wisconsin–Madison, Brandeis University, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Language: English

Topic: Family and Disability Support Research

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development