Personality and self-esteem in parents of disabled children: A comparison between Estonia and Sweden

The main purpose of this study was to measure differences with respect to personality characteristics and self-esteem between parents of disabled children and parents of non-handicapped children in Sweden and Estonia. A total of 270 parents were included in this study, 154 parents with a disabled child and 116 parents in a control group. The methods used were the Adjective Check List by Cough & Heilbrun, the Eysenck Personality Inventory and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories, Adult form. Few statistically significant differences were found between the parents of handicapped and nonhandicapped children with respect to answers on the three tests. Some sex differences were found. There were a lot of cross-cultural differences, Swedish people being more extrovert and Estonian more neurotic. Swedish people also have significantly higher self-esteem.