Psychological Correlates of Quality of Life in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Psychosocial outcomes have come to the front as a main concern for individuals with Cerebral Palsy (CP), promoting the need to understand the quality of life experienced by children and adolescents diagnosed with CP. As a result, the current study examined the relationships among quality of life in children with CP, the psychological symptoms and parenting characteristics of the parents of these children, and the emotional and behavioral functioning of these children. Results of this study suggested that these variables are related in interesting ways. Further, parenting stress, parents’ depressive symptoms, and children’s internalizing behavior problems were significant predictors of the quality of life experienced by the children in this sample. Thus, the direct benefits from optimizing parents’ mental health as well as that of their children may prove to be an important intervention in helping to improve the quality of life of children who have been diagnosed with CP.