Psychological well-being of fathers with and without a child with intellectual disability: a population-based study.
E Langley, V Totsika, R P Hastings
PMID 31749233WHAT IT FOUND
Having a child with intellectual disability did not explain poorer well-being once income, employment and child behaviour were considered.
Fathers of children with intellectual disability reported lower life satisfaction and poorer general health, but differences were small.
Key findings
01Fathers of children with intellectual disability reported lower life satisfaction than fathers without intellectual disability (7.10 compared with 7.59), a statistically significant but small difference (d = 0.17).
02In adjusted models, child intellectual disability was not a statistically significant predictor of life satisfaction, work-family balance, general health, parenting self-efficacy, or parent-child closeness.
03Child behavioural and emotional problems and family income poverty were associated with poorer general health and poorer father-child closeness.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used cross-sectional data, so it cannot show whether having a child with intellectual disability caused differences in fathers' well-being. Fathers' well-being and parenting outcomes were self-reported, and some measures used only one item, which may be less reliable. Child behavioural and emotional problems were mostly reported by mothers, not fathers, so the measure may not reflect what fathers experienced. The sample included only fathers living in the same household as the child full time or part time, so it does not speak to fathers living separately. The regression models explained very little of the variation in paternal outcomes, so many relevant factors were not captured. Fathers of children with intellectual disability differed from other fathers on income, employment, education and ethnicity, which may influence the raw group differences.
Declared interests
No author conflicts of interest or funding declaration is stated in the supplied article text; the supplied metadata lists non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that having a child with intellectual disability causes poorer well-being in fathers. The raw group differences were small, and after accounting for income, employment and child behaviour, child intellectual disability did not explain poorer well-being. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show cause.