Comparing Biopsychological and Personality Characteristics between Mothers with and without Exceptional Children

Having a disabled child, in addition to financial pressure and high care burden, imposes extensive biopsychological stress on parents, especially mothers. Few studies in Iran have examined biopsychological and personality traits in the mothers of exceptional children before the child was born. The duty of parents, especially mothers in the family besides caring and educating their children, is to create a peaceful environment by establishing healthy relationships between family members, also help improve children’s independence; even if the child has exceptional conditions, such as intellectual disabilities, vision and hearing impairments, physical disabilities, and so on. Therefore, this study aimed to compare biopsychological and personality components between mothers with and without exceptional children.

This was a descriptive–analytical and causal–comparative research study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all mothers with exceptional children covered by the Welfare Organization of Yazd City, Iran, in 2020–2021 (N=534 families). In total, 164 mothers with exceptional children and 164 mothers with Typically–Developing (TD) children were selected by random multistage cluster sampling method. The inclusion criteria for the mothers of exceptional children were the age range of 17–60 years and having more than 2 exceptional children, aged 7–17 years. The exclusion criteria for this group included having a motor or perceptual disability that interfered with the interviews and completing the questionnaire, dissatisfaction to participate in the research, and failure to answer the researcher's questions. The inclusion criteria for the mothers of TD children consisted of the age range of 17–60 years, having a child aged 7–17 years, providing informed consent forms to participate in the research, and completing the research questionnaires. To collect the necessary data, the Biological, Psychosocial Characteristics Questionnaires (Afrooz, 2004), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ–28; Goldberg & Hillier, 1979), and the NEO–Five Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1980) were used. The study tools were provided to the explored mothers in two phases; the first one was distributed and collected before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) outbreak by attending homes and schools; the second one was distributed and collected after the COVID–19 outbreak through cyberspace or by sending it to the door of the house. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, & percentage) and inferential statistics (Chi–squared test & Independent Samples t–test) in SPSS at a significance level of 0.05.

The present research results indicated significant differences in marriage age, the type of marriage, educational level, occupational status, pregnancy age, physical illness, substance use disorders, psycho–emotional status during pregnancy, blood type, and the history of abortion or stillbirth between the evaluated mothers with exceptional and TD children (p<0.001). Additionally, the mothers of exceptional children presented higher levels of physical symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and depression, compared to the mothers of TD children (p<0.001). In addition, neuroticism personality trait was more frequent in the mothers of exceptional children, compared to the mothers of TD children (p<0.001). The mothers of TD children reported more personality traits of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, compared to their counterparts with exceptional children (p<0.001).

According to the current research findings, the mothers of exceptional children performed worse biologically, emotionally, and socially, compared to the mothers of TD children before the birth of the child. Moreover, their mental health and personality status were worse than their counterparts with TD children.