Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, OH 43403, USA.
Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2013 Mar;36(1):15-21. doi: 10.1037/h0094742.
Study examined perceptions of personal loss due to mental illness and social network characteristics among young adults with a psychiatric disability and their parents. Research directly compared young adults' and parents' reports of personal loss, social network structure and support, and interpersonal loneliness. Relationships between perceived networks, personal loss, and loneliness for adults and parents were examined.
Sixty young adults diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and their parents from 30 families completed individual, semistructured interviews that assessed social networks, loneliness, and personal loss due to mental illness.
Differences between young adults and parents were found in types of personal loss due to mental illness and the structure of their perceived networks. Parents reported larger networks with more family members than did adults, but no significant differences were found in perceptions of social support. Adults and their parents reported similar feelings of loneliness, but a differential pattern of relationships was found between perceived personal loss, network characteristics, and loneliness among adults and their parents.
Study highlights importance of including both adults with psychiatric disability and their parents in family research. Comparing experiences of adults and parents can help to describe disruptions due to mental illness and perceived availability of social resources in the context of family life.
研究考察了精神病残疾的年轻成年人及其父母对因精神疾病导致的个人损失的看法和其社会网络特征。研究直接比较了年轻成年人和父母对个人损失、社会网络结构和支持以及人际孤独感的报告。还研究了成年人和父母感知网络、个人损失和孤独感之间的关系。
来自 30 个家庭的 60 名被诊断患有精神分裂症或双相情感障碍的年轻成年人及其父母完成了个人半结构化访谈，评估了社会网络、孤独感和因精神疾病导致的个人损失。
在因精神疾病导致的个人损失类型和感知网络结构方面，年轻成年人和父母之间存在差异。父母报告的网络中家庭成员比成年人更多，但在社会支持方面没有显著差异。成年人和他们的父母报告了类似的孤独感，但在成年人及其父母中，感知到的个人损失、网络特征和孤独感之间的关系存在差异模式。
该研究强调了在家庭研究中同时包括有精神障碍的成年人及其父母的重要性。比较成年人和父母的经历有助于描述精神疾病对家庭生活的干扰以及对社会资源的感知可用性。
