We administered the Family Adjustment Measure to 368 parents of children with special needs to identify positive adjustment. We randomly split the sample to conduct exploratory factor analysis (n = 194) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 174). Results indicated four possible subscales and that explain 51% of the variance.
BartlettM. S. (1954). A note on the multiplying factors for various chi square approximations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 16, 296–298.
2.
BrehautJ. C.KohenD. E.GarnerR. E.MillerA. R.LachL. M.KlassenA. F.RosenbaumP. L. (2009). Health among caregivers of children with health problems: Findings from a Canadian population-based study. American Journal of Public Health, 99, 1254–1262.
3.
BristolM.GallagherJ.SchoplerE. (1988). Mothers and fathers of young developmentally disabled and nondisabled boys: Adaptation and spousal support. Developmental Psychology, 24, 441–451. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.3.441
4.
CarpinielloB.PirasA.ParianteC.CartaM.RudasN. (1995). Psychiatric morbidity and family burden among parents of disabled children. Psychiatric Services, 46, 940–942.
5.
CatellR. B. (1966). The scree test for number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245–276.
6.
ChurchillS. S.VillarealeN. L.MonaghanT. A.SharpV. L.KieckheferG. M. (2010). Parents of children with special health care needs who have better coping skills have fewer depressive symptoms. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 14(1), 47–57. doi:10.1007/s10995-008-0435-0
7.
CohenS.KamarckT.MermelsteinR. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 386–396.
8.
DaireA. P.MunyonM. D.CarlsonR. G.KimemiaM.MitchamM. (2011). Examining distress and community resource engagement between parents of children with and without special needs. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 33, 177–188.
9.
DehleC.LarsenD.LandersJ. E. (2001). Social support in marriage. American Journal of Family Therapy, 29, 307–324.
GlazzardJ.OverallK. (2012). Living with autistic spectrum disorder: Parental experiences of raising a child with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Support for Learning, 27, 37–45. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9604.2011.01505.x
12.
GliddenL. M.BillingsF.JobeB. M. (2006). Personality, coping style and well-being of parents rearing children with developmental disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50, 949–962.
13.
HartleyS. L.BarkerE. T.SeltzerM. M.FloydF.GreenbergJ.OrsmondG.BoltD. (2010). The relative risk and timing of divorce in families of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 449–457.
14.
HattonC.EmersonE.GrahamH.BlacherJ.LlewellynG. (2010). Changes in family composition and marital status in families with a young child with cognitive delay. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 23(1), 14–26.
15.
HendrickS. (1988). A generic measure of relationship satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 93–98. doi:10.2307/352430
16.
HendrickS.DickeA.HendrickC. (1998). The relationship assessment scale. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 15, 137–142.
17.
HodappR. M.KrasnerD. V. (1994). Families of children with disabilities: Findings from a national sample of eight-grade students. Exceptionality, 5(2), 71–81.
18.
KaiserH. (1970). A second generation Little Jiffy. Psychometrika, 35, 401–415.
19.
KaiserH. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, 31–36.
20.
KimH. W.GreenbergJ.SeltzerM.KraussM. (2003). The role of coping in maintaining the psychological well-being of mothers of adults with intellectual disability and mental illness. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47, 313–327.
21.
KorenP.DeChilloN.FriesenB. (1992). Measuring empowerment in families whose children have emotional disabilities: A brief questionnaire. Rehabilitation Psychology, 37, 305–321. doi:10.1037/h0079106
22.
LustingD. C. (2002). Family coping in families with a child with a disability. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 37(1), 14–22.
23.
MarshallG.LangE. (1990). Optimism, self-mastery, and symptoms of depression in women professionals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 132–139. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.132
Neely-BarnesS.GraffJ. C.MarcenkoM.WeberL. (2008). Family decision making: Benefits to persons with developmental disabilities and their family members. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 46, 93–105.
26.
OelofsenN.RichardsonP. (2006). Sense of coherence and parenting stress in mothers and fathers of preschool children with developmental disability. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 31(1), 1–12.
27.
PeerJ. W. (2011). Coping style as a mediator of stress perception for caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. ProQuest Information & Learning. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 72(4). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1202&context=oa_dissertations (2011-99200-207)
28.
PowersL.SingerG. H. S. (1993). Families, disability, and empowerment: Active coping skills and strategies for family interventions. Baltimore, MD: P. H. Brooks.
29.
SivbergB. (2002). Family system and coping behaviors: A comparison between parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders and parents with non-autistic children. Autism, 6, 397–409.
30.
SpanierG. B. (1989). Dyadic Adjustment Scale: User’s manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.
31.
SpeerP. W.PetersonN. A. (2000). Psychometric properties of an empowerment scale: Testing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains. Social Work Research, 24, 109–118.
32.
StonemanZ.Gavidia-PayneS. (2006). Marital adjustment in families of young children with disabilities: Associations with daily hassles and problem-focused coping. Journal Information, 111(1), 1–14.
33.
StrunkJ. A. (2010). Respite care for families of special needs children: A systematic review. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 22, 615–630. doi:10.1007/s10882-010-9190-4
34.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson.
35.
UrbanoR. C.HodappR. M.FloydF. (2007). Divorce in families of children with Down syndrome: A population-based study. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 112, 261–274.
36.
VaughnM.BaierM. (1999). Reliability and validity of the relationship assessment scale. American Journal of Family Therapy, 27, 137–147.
