AGING MOTHERS OF RETARDED ADULTS--IMPACTS OF CAREGIVING

本申请寻求对继续(6-10年)我们的 461个有成年子女的老年家庭的纵向研究 精神发育迟滞。在L阶段(1-5岁)，与我们的 假设，我们发现了出乎意料的有利的个人幸福水平- 身为母亲，没有更高水平的家庭痛苦， 以及一种有效适应和适应一国需求的模式 终生残疾的家庭成员。然而，从 对于母亲来说，从产妇到非产妇的护理充满了复杂性， 特别是与失去中央育儿角色有关。 对这些数据的初步分析，基于少数人的病例 到目前为止，都表明推动 放置和预防它所需要的保护因素继续 纵向调查。 在L阶段已经收集了四波数据。对我们的补充 目前的奖项支持决赛期间的第五波数据收集 本项目所涉年度已收到全额供资。这是一项新的 应用程序将支持第6、第7和第8波，从而产生完整的数据集 在10年的时间里有8次海浪。为第二阶段提出的方法是 与第一阶段的成功使用保持一致，我们将在- 每隔18个月与父母进行一次面谈，并 对智障人士成年兄弟姐妹的邮寄调查。这个 Project将产生异常丰富和复杂的数据集，涉及到 一波又一波的数据收集，参与家庭的数量， 每个家庭中有多个受访者的可用性以及持续时间 有必要观察成人心绞痛的短期和长期变化 智障及其家人。 到第二阶段结束时，我们估计461个家庭中至少有200个 将经历从产妇护理到非产妇护理的过渡， 足够大的数字来对随之而来的变化动态进行建模 智障成年人家庭中的老年现象。为此，拟议的 研究考察(L)向 非父母照料，(2)终身照料对老年人的影响 家庭作为一个单位和对每个人的影响；(3) 规范的生活压力对家庭内照料能力的影响。

This application seeks support for the continuation (Years 6-10) of our longitudinal study of 461 aging families who have an adult son or daughter with mental retardation. In Phase l (Years 1-5), contrary to our hypotheses, we discovered unexpectedly favorable levels of personal well- being in the mothers, an absence of elevated levels of family distress, and a pattern of effective adaptation and accommodation to the needs of a family member with lifelong disabilities. However, the transition from maternal to non-maternal care is fraught with complexity for the mothers, particularly related to the loss of the central parenting role. Preliminary analyses of these data, based on the small number of cases who have placed thus far, suggest that the catalytic factors which propel placement and the protective factors which forestall it warrant continued longitudinal investigation. Four waves of data have been collected during Phase l. A supplement to our current award to support a fifth wave of data collection during the final year of the current project period has received full funding. This new application will support Waves 6, 7, and 8, resulting in a full data set of 8 waves over a 10-year period. The methodology proposed for Phase ll is consistent with that used successfully during Phase I. We will conduct in- person interviews with mothers and fathers at 18 month intervals, and a mailed survey of adult siblings of the person with retardation. The project will yield an unusually rich and complex data set, with respect to repeated waves of data collection, the number of participating families, the availability of multiple respondents in each family, and of a duration necessary to observe short-term and long-term changes in adults with retardation and their families. By the end of Phase ll, we estimate that at least 200 of the 461 families will have experienced the transition from maternal to non-maternal care, a sufficiently large number to model the dynamics of changes that accompany old age in families of adults with retardation. To this end, the proposed study examines (l) the antecedents and consequences of the transition to non-parental caregiving, (2) the effects of lifelong caregiving on the family as a unit and on each individual, and (3) the influence of normative life stressors on caregiving capacities within the family.