Perceived Stress and Anxiety among Parents of the Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Parents having an intellectually disabled child experiences impact on their psychology and feel continuously stressed. The sample of the intellectually disabled children was taken from the special schools of Jammu district of J&K state. Total of 60 children were selected and were categorized as groups as X, Y and Z. Group X comprises of 40 parents (20 mothers and 20 fathers) of profound and severe intellectual disabled children. Group Y comprises of 40 parents (20 mothers and 20 fathers) of mild and borderline intellectual disabled children. Group Z comprises of 40 parents (20 mothers and 20 fathers) of intellectually healthy children. Parents were administered with the Family Interview for Stress and Coping in Retardation, (FISC) Section 1, and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). The results indicated that the mothers of group X experiences more stress as compared to mothers of group Y and Z. Mothers in all the groups have comparatively more level of anxiety than the fathers. There exists the positive correlation between levels of anxiety and perceived stress. (HARS and FISC scores) among mothers and fathers in the groups X, Y and Z.