Mental Health of Parents of Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability: Exploring the Relationship Between Parenting and Behaviors That Challenge

Introduction Research shows that parents of children with intellectual disability experience more mental health problems than those of children with typical development, which has been related to several factors such as sociodemographic characteristics, parenting attitudes, practices and styles, the presence of behaviors that challenge and the level of supports required by their child. To understand the relationship of these variables is crucial for the development of interventions and supports for this group.Methods One hundred and twenty-three Chilean mothers and fathers of children with intellectual disability between 7 and 17 years of age participated in our study.Results Participants reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and parental stress compared to the general population. Cluster analysis identified two groups based on mental health symptoms (low vs. high), revealing differences in their child’s behavior, parenting styles, parental age, and socioeconomic status. Parents in the low symptoms group are older, from higher socioeconomic status and reported better parental attitudes, less behaviors that challenge and more prosocial behaviors in their child, that the participants in the high symptoms group. A conditional classification tree analysis highlighted limit setting and parental involvement as key predictors of these clusters.Conclusion Our findings emphasize the need to further explore the relationship between mental health and contextual factors in parents of children with intellectual disability to identify risk of mental health problems in the parents and develop effective interventions for this group.