THE COMPARISON OF STRESS, LOCUS OF CONTROL AND COPING STYLES IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH MILD MENTAL DISABILITY AND IN MOTHERS OF TYPICALLY DEVOLOPİNG CHILDREN

Objective:

When the related literatureis analyzed, it is realized that there are some personality traits accompanying the stress of the mothers of children with mental disability. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between the level of stres and the coping styles and locus of control beliefs in mothers who have children with mild mental disability and the mothers with normal developing children.

Method:

The sample of the study consisted of 83 mothers who have children with mild mental disability and whose chidren are attending to special education centers in Ankara and 91 mothers who have typically devoloping children and whose chidren are attending to elementary schools in Ankara. Thus, the study included totally 174 participants. The ages of the children in both groups were between 7-12. Mothers were evaluated with the Stres Self-assessment Checklist, Ways of Coping Scale (WCS) and Locus of Control Scale (LOC).

Results:

When the results of the t tests for independent groups were applied to the scores of both total and subscales, it was found that the mothers who had mentally handicapped children experienced more cognitive-affective stress symptoms. However, the analysis of groups indicated that there were significantly no meaningful differences in the total and subscales scores of WCS and LOC Scales between the two groups. The results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the self-confident and the submissive/self blamed coping styles predicted the total stress level that the mothers experienced.

Discussion:

The results were discussed in the light of the related literature.