The Relationship between Familial performance, Social support and Demographic variables with Parenting Stress and Mental Health among Parents of Deaf children

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between severities of deafness, child’s age, social support, parents’ Demographic variable and family function with stress and mental health among parents of children with hearing impairment. This study was a correlational study and to carry it out 180 parents were selected using availability sampling method. They completed perceived social support questionnaire, PSI index, GHQ, FAD-I scale and demographic questionnaires for parents and children. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and hierarchical regression were used. Correlation coefficients showed that the severity of deafness and child's age had positive relationship with parents’ mental health problems and stress. Furthermore, there was a significant negative relationship between social support, family income and family function. Also, the correlations between problem solving, emotion expression and mental health and parental stress were significantly negative. Therefore, family function, child's characteristics, perceived social support and family income had a relationship with mental health and parental stress.