Feldman, M.A., & Walton-Allen, N.,

1997,

Reviewed by Dr Susan McGaw,
Cornwall Partnership (NHS) Trust.

Methodology

The influence of low maternal IQ and poverty was examined by comparing 27 school-age children of mothers with mild intellectual disabilities with 25 similarly impoverished children of mothers without intellectual disabilities.

This study is long over-due in the empirical literature and goes some way to furthering our understanding of the influence of socio-demographic factors on the parental competency of parents with intellectual disabilities. The research endeavours to identify and isolate poverty as a possible predictor of child development from within a proliferation of home environment and familial variables. Whilst previous studies have attempted to control for poverty, little is known regarding the direct or indirect effect of poverty upon these families and in particular, the effect of poverty on children's IQ, academic functioning and behavioural adjustment. In addition, this study evaluated child outcomes with the quality of maternal social support and home environment.

A non-equivalent between group experimental design was used in the study involving two groups of families with children between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Parents (IQ < 70) and who had a family income below the Canadian urban poverty level were recruited to the study via community agencies which specialised in providing advocacy and support for adults with intellectual disabilities. Sample bias was avoided by excluding referrals from child welfare agencies. The Experimental Group 1 (n = 27) comprised parents with a maternal intellectual disability. The Comparison Group, (n = 25) included mothers without an intellectual disability (18 of these had IQ > 80). The Control Group were recruited in response to flyers distributed across low income neighbourhoods and drop-in centres in Ontario communities. Neither of the children across the groups had special needs or disabilities. Both groups of parents were economically disadvantaged and received state benefits.

All of the children were assessed for intellectual functioning using the WISC-R (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Revised), and the Reading , Spelling and Arithmetic WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised), and were assessed for behaviour disorders using the Child Behaviour Checklist. Quality of the home environment was assessed using the Home Environment and Maternal Social Isolation/Support (HOME) Inventory. The Parenting Stress Index was used to evaluate mothers' perception of support.

Critical appraisal

The authors strove to avoid bias in the recruitment process and were sensitive to user-friendly assessment processes. Their efforts proved positive as no parent refused to participate or dropped out of the study, after the initial recruitment stage. Nevertheless, and despite the author's efforts, there were inequalities reported in the demographic status of both samples. The Experimental Group were over-represented in terms of fathers with an intellectual disability or special education experience included in the study (66.7%), in comparison to the Control Group (8%). Also, in terms of the children, boys were over-represented in terms of the boy/girl split in the Experimental Group (19/8) compared to the Control Group (12/13). As a result, the between-gender differences need to be treated cautiously as these factors may be influencing mothers' competencies and therefore, outcomes. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged that matching and controlling for multiple demographic factors in these complex families is a challenge for all researchers in this field. Despite this, the study is well designed and contributes much to our understanding of the vulnerabilities of these parents and children.

Key findings

• The children whose mother had intellectual disabilities had lower IQs (60% < 85), lower academic achievement and more behavioural problems than the control group
• No one child with a mother who had intellectual disabilities was problem-free.
• Boys were affected more severely than were girls.
• Quality of the home environment and maternal social supports were lower in the group with maternal intellectual disabilities, with both measures being negatively correlated with child behaviour disorders.
• Results suggest that being raised by a mother with intellectual disabilities can have detrimental effects on child development that cannot be attributed to poverty alone.

Social work practice implications

This study highlights the vulnerability of children born to parents with intellectual disabilities, especially in terms of their special educational needs. Boys of parents with intellectual disabilities appear particularly vulnerable to poor academic attainment and to conduct disorders compared to boys of mothers without intellectual impairment. However, both groups had in common significant correlations between maternal social isolation and child behaviour problems, as well as HOME scores and academic achievement.

Policy implications