Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and Personality Traits with Mental Health of Parents with More Than One Exceptional Child

In a family with one or more exceptional children, the parents endure severe physical and psychological stress, in addition to the burden of care and socio-economic pressures. Therefore, the present study examined the relationship between socio-economic status and personality traits with mental health of parents of more than one exceptional child and compared their rates between mothers and fathers in Yazd.

This study was analytical and crosssectional. The population of the study included all parents with more than one exceptional child in Yazd in 2019-2020. For example, 160 parents with more than one exceptional child were selected by random cluster sampling. The demographic form, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and the NEO–Five Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1980) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS-21 software and correlation coefficient, independent ttest and stepwise regression with a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that there were significant negative relationships between socio-economic status and personality traits of extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness and agreeableness with the mental health of parents of exceptional children. Also, there is a significant positive relationship between neuroticism with the mental health of the parents of exceptional children (p<0.01). However, neuroticism (β = 0.28) and extraversion (β = -0.13) were able to predict mental health. Also, mothers of exceptional children had lower mental health and more neuroticism than fathers.

According to the results, if the parents of more than one exceptional child have a higher socio-economic status and more appropriate personality traits, their mental health will be better. So, the components of neuroticism and extroversion personality are able to predict the level of mental health in these parents.