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 Fathers of disabled children did not differ from fathers of
non-disabled children in memory skills as they aged. And mothers
with a strong support system, a sense of control and a history of
regular exercise kept sharper than those without those attributes.
“Keeping quality friendship, sense of control for life and
physically active lifestyle would help to protect these parents from
accelerated cognitive aging,” said Jieun Song, a researcher at the
Waisman Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the
study.
When the mothers in the study had more trouble handling their
disabled kids and were older, their memory was worse, the
researchers note in Journals of Gerontology: Series B.
That’s not surprising, considering past research that has shown
parents with disabled kids tend to feel more stressed and to have
more psychological problems, like depression, than those with
children without special needs, the researchers note.
“Because mothers of children with disabilities are usually more
involved in childcare and housework than their spouses, it is likely
that these mothers are more exposed to chronic stress and
consequently at higher risks of cognitive decline compared with
fathers of children with disabilities over the life course,” Song
told Reuters Health in an email.
Song said she and her team wanted to study the cognitive effects of
parenting kids with disabilities because of the prevalence of these
children in the US, the longer lifespans of parents and the large
cost to society.
The study used data from a large national survey of parents from
2004 to 2006, examining the history of 128 parents with disabled
children and 512 without disabled kids (and who didn’t take care of
other disabled children or adults). The kids in the first group had
child-onset disabilities, such as attention deficit
disorder/hyperactivity, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome,
epilepsy and intellectual or learning challenges.
Parents were tested on verbal memory and fluency, mental processing
speed, reasoning, working memory and ability to switch their
attention.
Physical health, physical activity, depression, sense of control,
social support and negative parenting experience were also included
in the analysis.
Most of the mothers were in their late 40s and early 50s, had about
two years of college and about 85 percent were non-Hispanic white.
The mothers of disabled kids tended to be much more depressed, in
worse physical health and to feel they had less of a sense of
control than mothers without disabled kids.
For instance, 18 percent of mothers of disabled children reported
having been depressed in the 12 months prior to the study, compared
with 7 percent of mothers without disabled kids.
Mothers of disabled children also had more problems handling their
kids and had less support from friends than women without disabled
children.
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Among the women with disabled children, being white, more educated
and having more social support were linked to significantly better
memory and thinking.
Fathers with disabled kids had more negative parenting experiences
than fathers whose kids were not disabled. But there were no
significant differences in their cognitive functioning.
The researchers did not have information about the severity of the
children’s disabilities, their ages, or about any disabilities or
other health problems among the parents that might affect cognition.
They acknowledge in their report that because they only looked at
one point in time, they cannot say whether parenting a disabled
child caused the memory differences they observed.
“One important aspect of this study was that having a sense of
control and support from friends helped mitigate the impact of
long-term caring for a child with a disability,” said Tamar Heller,
who directs the Institute on Disabilities and Human Development at
the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“Overall, their findings buttress the need for family support
services and supports for families of individuals with
disabilities,” said Heller, who was not involved in the study. “It
shows significant disparities for this population making these
services and supports a public policy priority.”
Heller noted that her own research has found that if families
received enough help from support services, they were much less
likely to experience “caregiving burden.”
She added, “When families are involved in consumer-directed programs
where they can direct the supports provided to their families, they
are more likely to experience less burden and feel a greater sense
of parenting competence. This study reinforces these notions that
personal control and support are important in reducing stress and
potential consequent cognitive declines.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1CWoRsW Journals of Gerontology: Series B,
online March 24, 2015.
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