Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Mar;34(3):1059-68. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.12.002. Epub 2013 Jan 8.
The self-perceived physical health of mothers raising children with developmental delay (DD; N=116) or typical development (TD; N=129) was examined across child ages 3-9 years, revealing three main findings. First, mothers of children with DD experienced poorer self-rated physical health than mothers of children with TD at each age. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that mothers in the DD group experienced poorer health from age 3 but that the two groups showed similar growth across ages 3-9 years. Second, cross-lagged panel analyses supported a child-driven pathway in early childhood (ages 3-5) by which early mother-reported child behavior problems predicted poorer maternal health over time, while the reversed, health-driven path was not supported. Third, this cross-lagged path was significantly stronger in the DD group, indicating that behavior problems more strongly impact mothers' health when children have developmental delay than when children have typical development. The health disparity between mothers of children with DD vs. TD stabilized by child age 5 and persisted across early and middle childhood. Early interventions ought to focus on mothers' well-being, both psychological and physical, in addition to child functioning.
研究了 3-9 岁发育迟缓（DD；N=116）和典型发育（TD；N=129）儿童的母亲对自身身体健康的感知，结果发现了三个主要发现。首先，与 TD 儿童的母亲相比，DD 儿童的母亲在各个年龄段自我评估的身体健康状况都较差。潜在增长曲线分析表明，DD 组的母亲从 3 岁起健康状况较差，但两组在 3-9 岁之间的增长情况相似。其次，交叉滞后面板分析支持了儿童在幼儿期（3-5 岁）的主导作用，即早期母亲报告的儿童行为问题随着时间的推移预测了母亲健康状况的恶化，而健康主导作用的反向路径则不支持。第三，这种交叉滞后路径在 DD 组中更为明显，这表明当孩子有发育迟缓时，行为问题对母亲健康的影响比孩子有典型发育时更强。与 TD 儿童的母亲相比，DD 儿童的母亲的健康差距在孩子 5 岁时稳定下来，并在幼儿期和中期持续存在。早期干预应该关注母亲的幸福感，包括心理和身体健康，以及儿童的功能。
