Diving into the Resolution Process: Parent's Reactions to Child's Diagnosis.

This research presents an in-depth observation of parental resolution regarding a child's diagnosis with special needs to help counsellors understand the complexities of parental coping. Sixty-two parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder/Intellectual Developmental Delay participated in a Reaction to the Diagnosis Interview and a semi-structured interview. Categorical analysis revealed that 59.7% of the parents had reached resolution, with approximately 40% emotional orientation, 40% cognitive orientation, and 20% proactive orientation. Content analysis revealed three themes: emotions-feelings of guilt, shame, and emotional breakdown; thoughts-fear of stigma and concern for the child's future; actions-concealment, seeking support, and attempts to reject the results of the diagnosis. Whereas most parents were diagnosed as having reached resolution, the content analysis still found complex subject matter suggesting lack of resolution. Research findings show that counsellors should identify the intricate emotional dynamics of parents coping while being cautious of premature coping categorization.

Attractiveness and neural processing of infant faces: effects of a facial abnormality but not dopamine.

Adults' caregiving responses toward infants may have important origins in the perception and processing of infant cues as well as the motivation to attend to these cues. Moreover, some biological processes, such as dopaminergic neurotransmission, may be crucially involved. Although infant stimuli are generally experienced as cute and rewarding, infants with a visible disability may be regarded much less favorably than others, perhaps dependent on differences in perception, motivation, and neural processing. The current study investigated effects of administered dopamine on the perceived attractiveness and neurophysiological indices of attention and processing (i.e., the P1, P2, and N170 components of the event-related potential) of infant faces with and without a cleft lip. No evidence for effects of dopamine was found, but we replicated the finding that the decreased attractiveness of infants with a cleft lip was mediated by decreased configural face processing (smaller N170 amplitudes), but not more general attentional and/or executive processing (P2). The current findings show once again the unfavorable consequences of a cleft lip, but also highlight the importance of combining and relating measures across various levels of analysis and underscore the importance of replication.

A mediation model of parental stress, parenting, and risk factors in families having children with mild intellectual disability.

In accordance with the determinant of parenting model (Belsky, 1984), a conceptual model is proposed in which parental stress mediates the links between child, proximal, and distal risk factors and parental behavior. Participants were 156 families with children aged 4-7 years (M = 5.64 years, SD = 0.62; 59 % boys); research group: 75 two-parent families having children with mild intellectual disability (MID); control group: 81 two-parent families with typically developed (TD) children. Parents completed questionnaires, and parent-child interactions were videotaped. Results indicated differences between groups in levels of parental stress and child and proximal risk factors, but not in distal risk factors. Furthermore, the paths between the proximal and child levels of risk to maternal parenting were mediated by maternal stress for both MID and TD groups. Risk factors were linked to paternal stress for all fathers, yet the mediation effect was only found for families with TD children. Distal risk factors significantly influenced maternal and paternal parenting, but only in families having children with MID and with no mediation of stress. The importance of being mindful to both proximal and distal ecologies of children with MID and their parents is discussed, as is the need to address the different influences fathers and mothers may have on their children.

The effects of familial risk and parental resolution on parenting a child with mild intellectual disability.

The current study investigated the manner by which family risk moderates the links between parental state of resolution with a child's diagnosis and both parent-child interaction and parental stress. The sample included 72 families with 4-7-year-old children (M=5.53, SD=0.73) diagnosed with mild intellectual disability. Parents reported on their resolution state and parental stress, and parent-child interactions were videotaped and analyzed. Results indicated that in families where mothers or fathers were unresolved rather than resolved, mother-child interactions were less positive only in the context of high family risk. The father-child interaction was not found to be affected by family risk and parental resolution. Interestingly, mothers in low family risk situations who were resolved reported the lowest level of parental stress, suggesting a "double buffer" effect, whereas fathers with high family risk who were unresolved experienced the highest levels of parental stress, suggesting a "double risk" effect.

Paternal versus maternal coping styles with child diagnosis of developmental delay.

Parents of children with disabilities vary in their reaction to their children's diagnosis. The current study focused on fathers in addition to mothers and examined their resolution and coping styles when having children diagnosed with developmental delay (DD). Sixty-five fathers and 71 mothers were interviewed using the reaction to the diagnosis interview (RDI; Pianta & Marvin, 1992a). Results indicated that the majority of parents were unresolved with their child's diagnosis, with no differences found between fathers' and mothers' rates of resolution. Furthermore, both parents of children that were diagnosed at a later age and parents that were less educated tended to be unresolved, as did fathers of a lower socioeconomic status. Older age of both children and mothers was related to maternal lack of resolution. Finally, an in-depth examination revealed significant differences in the manner in which fathers and mothers cope with their children's diagnosis: whereas mothers were more prone to using an emotional coping style, fathers tended to use a cognitive coping style. The clinical implications of paternal versus maternal coping styles are discussed.