The proposed secondary analysis will investigate disruptions in life course trajectory of parents of children with disabilities (developmental disabilities and severe mental illness) and the effects of the disruptions on the well-being of parents in midlife. We will identify these parents among the participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) and we will compare these parents with a sample of respondents whose children do not have disabilities or chronic health problems. The study will investigate how the life course in educational, occupational, parental, and marital roles through age 52 or 53 in parents of children with disabilities differs from the patterns shown by parents of typical children. The extent to which achievements in each domain match with or fall short of prior aspirations will also be examined. In addition, the costs of disrupted trajectories and failures to achieve aspirations will be related to a variety of outcomes in midlife that place such parents at risk as they progress into old age. These outcomes include financial well-being, psychological well-being, social participation and support and health risks and health status. Past research on parenting a child with a disability is limited by confounds between prior characteristics of the parents and the effects of the child on the parents. The proposed research will disentangle the confounds because WLS data were collected prior to as well as after the time that respondents became parents, spanning a 36 year period. This study will be the first prospective analysis of the life course of children with a developmental disability or severe mental illness, and as such, will provide new knowledge about the costs of these lifelong parenting responsibilities, and the various successful and unsuccessful trajectories associated with these circumstances. The proposed research represents a significant departure of our prior work, which is the reason we seek funding under the RO3 mechanism. Whereas our previous research relies on the life course framework as a conceptual foundation, this is our first attempt to directly investigate life course patterns, their disruptions, and consequences for parents of children with disabilities. The study will also point the way to future investigations of other sub-groups of WLS parents who have responsibility for adult children due to factors such as divorce, drug and alcohol problems, physical disability, AIDS, etc. The findings of this study will lead to new life course investigations of a wider range of examples of parental responsibility for adult children.
| Seltzer, Marsha Mailick; Greenberg, Jan S; Floyd, Frank J et al. (2004) Accommodative coping and well-being of midlife parents of children with mental health problems or developmental disabilities. Am J Orthopsychiatry 74:187-95 |
| Seltzer, M M; Greenberg, J S; Floyd, F J et al. (2001) Life course impacts of parenting a child with a disability. Am J Ment Retard 106:265-86 |
