The Distress Toleration Status, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Levels of Parents Who Have Normally Developed Children and Who Have Intellectual Disability Children

Being a parent and especially being a parent of a child with an intellectual disability could lead to reactions such as anxiety, stress, or depression in parents. Individuals in these emotional states could exhibit several psychological and somatic symptoms, which can make it difficult for them to adapt to life. In order to cope with difficulties in life, the stress tolerance of individuals should be high. The present study aims to determine the differences between the distress toleration of parents who have children with typical development (TD) and with intellectual disorders (ID) children and their depression, anxiety and stress levels. The study was designed as a quantitative study. The quantitative study data was collected from 90 mothers and 90 fathers (n=180) who have children with ID and 92 mothers and 92 fathers (n=184) who have children with TD (total:364). The study data were collected with Distress Toleration Scale and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Since the quantitative study data did not exhibit normal distribution based on the Shapiro-Wilk test, Mann Whitney U-Test was used. Thus, it was determined that acceptance of distress and coping with problem capacities of parents who have children with ID were lower when compared to parents who have children with TD. It was determined that parents who have children with ID could tolerate the distress less and had higher depression-anxiety-stress levels when compared to other parents who have children with TD.