Psychological Stress and Coping Strategies of the Parents of Mentally Challenged Children

Parenting a mentally retarded child is not an easy task. Parents having a mentally retarded child experience a variety of ‘psychological stress’ related to the child’s disability. Parents especially mothers need every help and encouragement possible in their difficult task, which is, indeed, easier for them while the child is still a baby. The birth of a handicapped child is likely to be one of the most traumatic events experienced by the family. Parents and other children in the family must undergo a variety of profound changes to adapt to the presence of a disabled member. Research has indicated that families who are successful in coping with having a mentally retarded child, are able to mobilize their internal and external means of support to deal effectively with the special needs of their child. A total of 62 parents including both father and mother of the mentally retarded child i.e., 32 fathers and 30 mothers had been studied. Two way ANOVA was employed to find out the significance of difference between gender, educational level on psychological stress and coping strategies. In the present study, gender and educational levels are treated as Independent variables, and psychological stress and coping scores as dependent variables. The analysis of the results showed that the relationship between psychological stress and coping strategies of the parents of mentally retarded children was negative and highly significant.