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Respite Care, Stress, Uplifts, and Marital Quality in Parents of Children with Down Syndrome

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Abstract

Parents of children with disabilities are at risk for high stress and low marital quality; therefore, this study surveyed couples (n = 112) of children with Down syndrome (n = 120), assessing whether respite hours, stress, and uplifts were related to marital quality. Structural equation modeling indicated that respite hours were negatively related to wife/husband stress, which was in turn negatively related to wife/husband marital quality. Also, wife uplifts were positively related to both wife and husband marital quality. Husband uplifts were positively related to husband marital quality. Therefore, it is important that respite care is provided and accessible to parents of children with Down syndrome.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express appreciation to the undergraduate student researchers who assisted with collecting and organizing the data: Chelsea Roux, Maryelle Ripa, Makena Boyer.

Author Contributions

Tina Dyches coordinated and supervised all aspects of the study, including the research design and methods. She designed the data collection process, assisted in data collection/analysis, and assisted in writing/revising all sections of the manuscript from initiation to revision. Michelle Norton collected the data, assisted with analyzing the data, and assisted in writing all sections of the manuscript. James Harper was lead researcher in conducting the data analysis, and in writing the results and measures sections. He responded to reviewers' concerns and questions about those parts. Susanne Olsen Roper contributed to the instrument selection and development, and to the writing and editing of the entire manuscript and also to the revision process. She also provided statistical analysis assistance. Paul Caldarella was a member of the research planning committee and contributed to the study by providing recommendations to enhance the literature review, methodology, and results sections, as well as by reading and editing the final completed manuscript.

Funding

Work associated with this research was supported by grants from Brigham Young University’s David O. McKay School of Education.

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Author notes

  1. Michelle Norton

    Present address: Crestview Elementary School, Davis School District, 185 W. Golden Ave, Layton, UT, 84041, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. McKay School of Education, Brigham Young University, 301 McKay Building, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Tina Taylor Dyches

  2. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 273 Taylor Building, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    James M. Harper

  3. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 2089 Joseph F. Smith Building, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Susanne Olsen Roper

  4. Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling, Brigham Young University, 149-D McKay Building, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Paul Caldarella

  5. Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Michelle Norton

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  1. Michelle Norton
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Correspondence to Tina Taylor Dyches.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Norton, M., Dyches, T.T., Harper, J.M. et al. Respite Care, Stress, Uplifts, and Marital Quality in Parents of Children with Down Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3700–3711 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2902-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2902-6

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