Families of young children with handicaps: parental stress and family functioning.

The association of the presence of a child with handicaps and parental stress and family dysfunctioning was examined. Fifty-five families with young children with handicaps were compared with a matched group of families of children without handicaps on the variables of parental stress and family functioning. Results of family psychological measures suggest that families may be resilient in adapting to the demands of raising a child with handicaps. Although families of such children appeared to have high degrees of stress, they differed only minimally from other families in their family functioning. These results reinforce the need for family intervention to alleviate parental stress and for individualized programs emphasizing family strengths and idiosyncratic attributes.