The relationship between social support, personal well-being, family well-being, and four dimensions of child behavior characteristics and child progress were examined in a study of 47 mothers and their young children with handicaps. The results showed that well-being, and to a lesser extent social support, were significantly related to child behavior characteristics, and that well-being and child behavior characteristics were significantly related to child progress. The implications of the findings for understanding the broader-based, social systems contexts of the development of young children are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bayley, N. (1969). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
2.
Beckman, P.J. (1983). Influence of selected child characteristics on stress in families of handicapped infants. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88, 150–156.
3.
Beckman, P.J. (1984). A transactional view of stress in families of handicapped children. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Social connections: Beyond the dyad (pp. 281–298). New York: Plenum Press.
4.
Brodzinsky, D. (1985). On the relationship between cognitive styles and cognitive structures. In E. Neimark, R. DeLisi, & L. Newman (Eds.), Moderators of competence (pp. 147–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
5.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
6.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Crouter, A. (1983). The evolution of environmental models in developmental research. In W. Kessen (Ed), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. History, theory, and methods (pp. 352–414). New York: John Wiley.
7.
Cochran, M., & Brassard, J. (1979). Child development and personal social networks. Child Development, 50, 601–616.
8.
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
9.
Cohen, S., & Syme, S.L. (Eds.). (1985). Social support and health. Orlando, FL: Academic Press
10.
Crnic, K., Greenberg, M., Ragozin, A., Robinson, N., & Basham, R. (1983). Effects of stress and social support on mothers of premature and full-term infants. Child Development, 54, 209–217.
11.
Crnic, K., Greenberg, M.T., & Slough, N.M. (1986). Early stress and social support influences on mothers' and high-risk infants' functioning in late infancy. Infant Mental Health Journal, 7, 19–48.
12.
Crockenberg, S. (1981). Infant irritability, mother responsiveness and social influences on the security of infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 52, 857–865.
13.
Dunst, C.J. (1985). Rethinking early intervention. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 5, 165–201.
14.
Dunst, C.J. (1986). Overview of the efficacy of early intervention programs. In L. Bickman & D. Weatherford (Eds.), Evaluating early intervention programs for severely handicapped children and their families (pp. 79–147). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
15.
Dunst, C.J., Cooper, C., & Bolick, F. (1987). Supporting families of handicapped children. In J. Garbarino, P. Brookhouser, & K. Authier (Eds.), Special children, special risks: The maltreatment of children with disabilities (pp. 17–46). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
16.
Dunst, C.J., Jenkins, V., & Trivette, C.M. (1984). Family Support Scale: Reliability and validity. Journal of Individual, Family, and Community Wellness, 1, 45–52.
17.
Dunst, C.J., Leet, H., & Trivette, C.M. (1988). Family resources, personal well-being, and early intervention. Journal of Special Education, 22(1), 108–116.
18.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1984, August). Differential influences of social support on mentally retarded children and their families. Paper presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
19.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1986). Looking beyond the parent-child dyad for the determinants of maternal styles of interaction. Infant Mental Health Journal, 7, 69–80.
20.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1987, April). Social support and positive functioning in families of developmentally at-risk preschoolers. Presentation made at the symposium “Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining: Successful Adaptations to the Care of a Handicapped Child” held at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.
21.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1988a). Determinants of caregiver styles of interaction used with developmentally at-risk children. In K. Marfo (Ed.), Parent-child interaction and developmental disabilities: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 3–31). New York: Praeger Publishers.
22.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1988b). A family systems model of early intervention with handicapped and developmentally at-risk children. In D. Powell (Ed.), Parent education as early childhood interventions: Emerging directions in theory, research, and practice (pp. 131–180). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.
23.
Dunst, C.J., & Trivette, C.M. (1988c). Toward experimental evaluation of the Family, Infant and Preschool Program. In H. Weiss & F. Jacobs (Eds.), Evaluating family programs (pp. 315–346). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
24.
Dunst, C.J., Trivette, C.M., & Cross, A. (1986a). Mediating influences of social support: Personal, family, and child outcomes. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, 403–417.
25.
Dunst, C.J., Trivette, C.M., & Cross, A. (1986b). Roles and support networks of mothers of handicapped children. In R. Fewell & P. Vadasy (Eds.), Families of handicapped children: Needs and supports across the life span (pp. 167–192). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
26.
Dunst, C.J., Trivette, C.M., & Cross, A.H. (1988). Social support networks of families with handicapped children. In S.E. Keefe (Ed.), Appalachian Mental Health (pp. 101–121). Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.
Dunst, C.J., Trivette, C.M., & Thompson, R.L. (in press). Supporting and strengthening family functioning: Toward a congruence between principles and practice. In D. Powell & D. Unger (Eds.), Families as nuturing systems: Social support across the lifespan. New York: Haworth Press.
29.
Dunst, C.J., Vance, S.D., & Cooper, C.S. (1986). A social systems perspective of adolescent pregnancy: Determinants of parent and parent-child behavior. Infant Mental Health Journal, 7, 34–48.
30.
Farran, D, Metzger, J., & Sparling, J. (1986). Immediate and continuing adaptations in parents of handicapped children. In J. Gallagher & P. Vietze (Eds.), Families of handicapped persons (pp. 143–163). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
31.
Field, T., & Fogel, A. (Eds.). (1982). Emotion and early interaction. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
32.
Hollingshead, A.B. (1975). Four factor index of social status. Unpublished paper, Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
33.
Holroyd, J. (1987). Questionnaire on Resources and Stress: For families with chronically ill or handicapped members. Brandon, VT: Clinical Psychology Publishing.
34.
Lin, N., Dean, A., & Ensel, W. (Eds.). (1986). Social support, life events, and depression. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
35.
Pascoe, J., Loda, F., Jeffries, V., & Earp, J. (1981). The association between mothers' social support and provision of stimulation to their children. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 2, 15–19.
36.
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International University Press.
37.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 1–25.
38.
Rosenberg, S., Robinson, C., Finkler, D., & Ross, J. (1987). An empirical comparison of formulas evaluating early intervention program impact on development. Exceptional Children, 54, 213–219.
39.
Sameroff, A.J., & Chandler, M.J. (1975). Reproductive risk and the continuum of caretaking casualty. In F.D. Horowitz, E.M. Hetherington, S. Scarr-Salapatek, & G. Siegel (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 4, pp. 187–244). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
40.
Sarason, I., & Sarason, B. (Eds.) (1985). Social support: Theory, research and applications. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
41.
Schaeffer, H.R. (Ed.). (1971). The origins of human social relations. New York: Academic Press.
42.
Simeonsson, R. (1981). Carolina Record of Individual Behavior. Unpublished scale, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
43.
Simeonsson, R., Huntington, G., Short, R., & Ware, W. (1982). The Carolina Record of Individual Behavior: Characteristics of handicapped infants and children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 2(2), 43–55.
44.
Stanley, M.A., & Maddux, J.E. (1986). Cognitive processes in health enhancement: Investigation of a combined protection motivation and self-efficacy model. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 7, 101–113.
45.
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
46.
Trivette, C.M., & Dunst, C.J. (1987). Proactive influences of social support in families of handicapped children. In H.G. Lingrenet al. (Eds.), Family strengths (Vol, 8–9): Pathways to well-being. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
47.
Vaux, A. (1988). Social support: Theory, research and intervention. New York: Praeger Publishers.
48.
Zautra, A., & Sandler, I. (1983). Live event needs assessment: Two models for measuring preventable mental health problems. In A. Zautra, K. Bachrach, & R. Hess (Eds.), Strategies for needs assessment in prevention (pp. 35–58). New York: Haworth Press.
