Mental health of aging women with children who are chronically disabled: Examination of a two-factor model

Data were collected from 838 women over age 50 who have either a child with a developmental disability or a child with schizophrenia. Lawton et al.'s (1991) parallel channel hypothesis, which suggests that positive and negative aspects of mental health have differential predictors, was tested. Results indicate that positive caregiving appraisals were predicted by quality of the mother-child relationship, while negative caregiving appraisals were predicted by the amount of help mother provided to her child, mother's health, child's behaviors, and positive appraisals. Positive well- being was predicted by mother's health, positive appraisals, and negative appraisals, while negative well-being was predicted by mother's health, child's behaviors, and negative appraisals. Hence, the data support the usefulness of the hypothesized model.