Table of Contents
Review of Literature
According to B. L. Baker, J. Blacher et al (2009) study on “Resilience and the course of daily parenting stress in families of young children with intellectual disabilities” says that decreases in mothers’ daily parenting stress trajectory were associated with both mother and father’s well‐being and perceived marital adjustment, as well as a positive father–child relationship.
According to J. L. Wallander et al (1989), “Perceptions of hope and social support were hypothesized to serve as resilience factors against distress in mothers of children with chronic physical conditions” says that perceptions of hope moderated the relationship between disability-related stress and maladjustment, suggesting a buffering effect when stress is high.
According to David S. Mandell et al (2011), “The impact of social support and family resilience on parental stress in families with a child diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder” says that greater family resilience was associated with lower levels of stress. Unexpectedly, higher levels of perceived social support were associated with increased parental stress.
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According to David McConnell et al (2014), “Resilience in families raising children with disabilities and behavior problems” says that resilience has more to do with the availability and accessibility of culturally relevant resources than with intrinsic, individual or family factors. With respect to family-level outcomes, strengthening social relationships and ameliorating financial hardship may be more important than behavior modification.
According to Keum, Hyesook et al (2016), “Development of Prediction Model for Depression among Parents with Disabled Children: Based on the Mediation Effect of Social Supports and Family Resilience” says that family resilience differed significantly according to monthly income. Parental depression was negatively correlated with the social supports and family resilience. Social support was correlated positively with family resilience.
According to Young Ran Tak et al (2002), “Family stress, perceived social support and coping following the diagnosis of a child’s congenital heart disease” says that perceived social support operated as a resiliency factor between family stress and both parental and family coping.
According to Tali Heiman et al (2008), “Parents of children with Asperger’s syndrome or with learning disabilities: Family environment and social support” says that parents with an Asperger’s child perceived their family’s expressive feelings as lower and the family organization as higher, and perceived their friendships and other support as lower than the other groups of parent.
According to Utku Sayin et al (2012), “Impact of Perceived Social Support and Depression on the Parental Attitudes of Mothers of Children Who are Deaf” says that perceived social support from friends and significant other did not have significant effect on parental attitudes.
According to Anne C. Fletcher et al (2006) “Factors Associated with Perceived Parenting Competence among Special Needs Adoptive Mothers” says that parenting stress moderated the association between children’s internalizing behavior and mothers’ feelings of competence.
According to Nazia Ahmed et al (2002), “Social Support Networks and Psychological Well‐being of Mothers with Intellectual Disabilities” says that strong associations between supportive social networks, psychological well‐being and positive parenting competence.
Introduction
Life is not always bright and cheerful. Adversity is a fact of life. Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise. It is not some magical quality; it takes real mental work to transcend hardship. But even after misfortune, resilient people are able to change course and move toward achieving their goals. There’s growing evidence that the elements of resilience can be cultivated. Resilience is about getting through pain and disappointment without letting them crush your spirit. It is the psychological strength to cope with stress and hardship. It is the mental reservoir of strength that people are able to call on in times of need to carry them through without falling apart. Resilience does not eliminate stress or erase life’s difficulties. People who possess this resilience don’t see life through rose-colored lenses. They understand that setbacks happen and that sometimes life is hard and painful. Resilience gives people the strength to tackle problems head-on, overcome adversity, and move on with their lives.
Humans are social creatures. Perceived social support, or the confidence that we will be supported by a network of individuals who love us in times of need, has a huge impact on quality of life, achievement and overall health. Social support is the “experience of being valued, respected, cared about and loved by others who are present in one’s life.” Those people may be friends, partners, teachers or family members. Perceived social support is an incredible asset to individuals. Research shows that social support can lessen stress and improve physical and mental wellness. A recent study published in Frontiers found that strong perceived social support from friends and family members reduced the risk of depressive symptoms in young adults. Throughout life, strong social support can help individuals overcome intense mental health struggles. Perceived social support is support that an individual believes to be available, regardless of whether the support is actually available. Perception of support may be a function of the degree of intimacy and affection within one’s relationships. Perceived support may heighten the belief that one is able to cope with current situations, may decrease emotional and physiological responses to events, and may positively alter one’s behavior.
The stress- support matching hypothesis (Cohn & McKay,1984;Cutrona&Russell, 1990) states that social support will be effective in promoting coping and reducing the effect of a stressor.
Perceived competence is a self-perception of an individual in their capabilities and ability to control their environment and situation. It is how skilled and effective a person perceives themselves to be in a particular situation. Individuals typically choose challenges that are suitable to their level of capabilities. Parents’ perceptions of parenting competence can help inform efforts to promote children’s safety and well‐being. When children exhibited higher levels of attention problems, their mothers felt more stress. In turn, when mothers experienced more parenting stress, they felt less competent as parents. Increasing perceived competence can be accomplished by starting with small goals and tasks and increasing upwards to a level where the group or individual is most capable. Rewards and praise are important in increasing perceived competence along with constructive feedback.
Presence of the special children in the family impacts various domains of parental and family life (Hayes and Watson, 2013) such as marital relationship, sibling relationships, family socialization patterns and family routines, etc. as the child needs greater understanding from the parents, extended family, friends, the community, and professional caregivers (Quintero and McIntyre, 2010).
Family Resilience( Walsh (2003)drawn from the studies of individual resilience as well as research on effective family functioning identifies a number of domains and qualities of family members that contributes to resilience: family belief systems (such as spirituality, maintaining a positive outlook, etc.), family organizational processes (interpersonal relationships, effective social networks, and economic resources) and family communication processes (collaborative communication and problem solving). The nature of resilience is a dynamic process (Stainton et al., 2018). Resilience involves the dynamic interaction between perceived risk and a range of protective and recovery factors that can help a person to adapt well in the face of adversities and to thrive. Resilience resources can be sourced from personal, relational, and environmental life domains. Cultural factors are likely to play a role in coping and resilience.
Tradtions , beliefs and values which are part of cultural piece can have its own influenece on the perception of parents on how they view their life experience and the challenges arised from rasing the special children. People who live in a collectivistic culture tend to be more interdependent on each other (Kitayama et al., 2009; Selin, 2013). Their emphasis on in-group relationships and harmony may also influence the way they make sense of experiences and challenges, influencing their coping behaviors as well as their use of the resources available. How parents communicate and deal with the stress and adversities might be influenced by cultural differences.
Connection between other family members and community with the parents of the special children also have its link with cultural practices and beliefs. Community risk and community resilience can strengthen the family resilience and resilience within parents of the special children.
Mothers were often found to play the primary caregiver role (Braunstein et al., 2013). The power of knowledge helps them to cope with the situations. When mothers were equipped with knowledge, it enabled them to develop a sense of competence. This could have subsequently enhanced their wellbeing and increased their resilience to face the adversity. Knowing the facts and information of their child’s condition not only helped them in dealing with their child, but also acted as a foundation from which parents could inform and educate other family members, community, and the government. Enrolling into a course related to special education, and simultaneously attending workshops and seminars benefitted them.
Cherishing even a small achievement shown by the children helped to uphold parents’ sense of hope. Thinking that God has given them the special children not because of fate or any past sins or wrongdoings, rather they were specially chosen by God to take care and raise this special child, adds a strengthening factor to cope up with their daily life. Strength and determination are other factors that lead to the resilience development. With respect to the different coping strategies, these enable mothers to deal with the stress and have a greater sense of control of their life. There is a combination of factors at the different levels associated with resilience development. At the individual level, it involves thought, behavior, and action, stating that the resilience is developable. The values and beliefs that are held by the individual mother also give impact to the process of resilience development.
The understanding, support and involvement of the family members and significant others enhance resilience. Increased family cohesion helps build individual and family resilience. The social support drawn from the community and society also helps to promote resilience.
Mothers gain support from immediate as well as extended family member. It takes a team to raise a special child and that every member of the immediate family should be part of the child’s growth and development. Participation from extended family members was also found to be a great support. The importance of good communication between immediate family members and mutual understanding with their spouses is very much necessary. Support doesn’t really mean it to be in the form of financial backup, but every second you try to understand and help each other, good communication, being with you in thick and thin. Also, assistance from extended family members (e.g., grandmothers, in-laws and relatives) provided relief from being overwhelmed with numerous responsibilities.
Formal and informal support groups were good sources of social support and gave them an opportunity to network with other parents helping them cope. Formal support groups include governmental and non-governmental organizations, and people who have specialized training. Mothers were also suggested “two-way communication” between them and health professionals to be very important. Informal support groups include6s other parents of special child, neighbors, religious groups, social welfare groups, etc. Sharing information and experiences with other parents, who have a special child yielded many positive outcomes for the parents. Social support models fall into two types: structural and functional. Structural models consider the individual’s social network of support resources or relationships from which individuals receive assistance in coping with demands and achieving goals (Kahn & Antonucci, 1980).
Functional model refers to the resources that people within an individual’s social network provide (Helgeson, 2003). The functions are emotional support, tangible or instrumental support, informational support, positive social interaction, appraisal support and affectionate support.
Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows the level of distribution between resilience and perceived social support among mothers of special children in Azhalagan Sugalayam and Elwin centre in Sivakasi. The scale on the x axis denotes the level and the scale on y axis denotes the no. of people. The table explains that a large number of mothers in both the centres show signs of high resilience ad comparably there are large number of perceived social support for them. It shows that with the help of perceived social support, the mothers of the special children showed high resilience.
Table 2 shows the level of distribution between perceived social support and perceived parenting competence among mothers of special children in Azhalagan Sugalayam and Elwin centre in Sivakasi. The scale on the x axis denotes the level and the scale on y axis denotes the no. of people. The table explains that those mothers who perceived to have high perceived social support were also found to have high parenting competence. Having a large network of support from their loved ones can make the mothers of the special children perceive themselves to be competent.
Table 3shows the level of distribution between perceived parenting competence and resilience among mothers of special children in Azhalagan Sugalayam and Elwin centre in Sivakasi. The scale on the x axis denotes the level and the scale on y axis denotes the no. of people. The table explains that there are equally high level of resilience ad perceived parenting competence in mothers of the special children. Resilience provides mothers a sense of parenting competence.
Table 4 shows the demographic details of the samples such as age, education, family type, religion and socio economic status of the mothers of the special children. These are also some of the factors which has an influence on resilience, perceived social support and perceived parenting competence. Age was found to have a played a major role in the resilience within an individual. As the age increases, the mothers get to know the clarity of the roles they had to play. As resilience is determined by the skills and attitudes, the mothers of the special children would have required skills to handle the children and the demanding situation. Age can have its own influence on perceived parenting competence. The aged mothers as per the experience with the rearing the child and facing the obstacles in rearing them can have the confidence to rear the child.
Educational level of thee mothers can also play a role in the resilience, perceived social support ad perceived parenting competence. If the mother of the special child is educated well enough, the she sure can manage the circumstance very well. She would know for sure there are people whom she can rely on and get support from. She would have a sense of parenting competence also. Education would have enhanced the required skills in her. The type of family from which the mother of the special child comes from and mainly residing have a say on it. If she comes from a nuclear family, she would have high resilience ad high level of parenting competence, because she would have managed the family and the tasks arised from raising from a family all alone by herself. If she comes from a joint family, she would have a high level of all the 3; resilience perceived social support and perceived parenting competence, because of the extended family members, she has a large number of social support.
When the enormous support system, she sure knows that she can handle all the problems and balance back to normal. She also has a high sense of parenting competence. If she fails at her parenting duty, she has her extended family members to help her raise the child. Religion can also play its own role in the resilience, perceived social support ad perceived parenting competence. Religion in here means the spiritual belief one has towards God or any super power extending our abilities. If the mother of the special child has a huge belief in God or the super power thinking that they are blessed with special children because it is God themselves had chose them to rear the children. The socio economic condition of the family can also play its role. If they are coming from a low SES, then they will feel the more burdened. There are possibilities for added stress and depression. Chances of perceived parenting competence can be lowered, given with the higher social support and resilience trait in them, it can be increased. More or less it goes the same for middle SES also.
