Skip Navigation



Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on October 3, 2006
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsl031
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
32/4/417    most recent
jsl031v2
jsl031v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigues, N.
Right arrow Articles by Patterson, J. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rodrigues, N.
Right arrow Articles by Patterson, J. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediartic Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 1, 2005
Accepted August 22, 2006

Original Papers

Impact of Severity of a Child's Chronic Condition on the Functioning of Two-Parent Families

Nicola Rodrigues 1 and Joän M. Patterson 2 *

1 Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota
2 School of Public Health, University of Minnesota

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Joän M. Patterson, E-mail: joan.patterson{at}epi.umn.edu


  Abstract

Objective To examine the impact of the severity of a child's chronic condition on family functioning from the perspectives of mothers and fathers and to compare their reports with the functioning of families with healthy children. Methods Mothers and fathers in two-parent families of 160 infants and 102 pre-adolescents with a wide range of chronic health conditions (noncategorical approach) completed standard self-report inventories. Results The families of children with chronic conditions functioned as well or better compared with normative data for families with healthy children. The only significant differences between mothers’ and fathers’ reports of family functioning were a greater negative impact on role performance reported by mothers of infants and pre-adolescents and a great negative impact on affective expression reported by fathers of pre-adolescents. Conclusions Overall, very little of the variance in family functioning was explained by severity of the child's chronic condition in this sample of middle-class, two-parent families.

Keywords: chronic condition severity; family functioning; mother-father comparisons.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The Family JournalHome page
O. R. Lightsey Jr. and J. Sweeney
Meaning in Life, Emotion-Oriented Coping, Generalized Self-Efficacy, and Family Cohesion as Predictors of Family Satisfaction Among Mothers of Children With Disabilities
The Family Journal, July 1, 2008; 16(3): 212 - 221.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.