An Investigation into the Relationship between Attachment to God and Mental Health in the Parents of Exceptional and Normal Children in Hamedan City in the Academic Year 2008- 2009

This study aims at investigating the relation between attachment to God and mental health among the parents of exceptional and normal children. The present study is an applied research conducted by correlational methodology. 358 persons (125 parents of normal students and 233 parents of exceptional ones) were selected via random cluster sampling. They answered the scales of God attachment styles (Larson and Ghobari, 2009) and SCL-90-R. The data were analyzed by using correlation coefficient, T test and Z test. The results show that there is a highly significant relationship between attachment to God and mental health of the two groups of this study. Also, the relationship between the said two variables is more significant in the parents of exceptional children than those of normal ones (p = / 0001). The result of the present study showed that there is a significant relationship between attachment to God and mental health in parents of exceptional and normal children. It is thus suggested that in order to reduce stress and improve mental health in parents of exceptional children, they should be encouraged to have faith and rely on God.