The well-being of mothers of adolescents with developmental disabilities in relation to medical care utilization and satisfaction with health care

Parents of children with disabilities have been found to be more likely to experience stress and depressive symptoms than parents of typically developing children as a result of the increased challenges inherent in their parenting role. This study investigated the utilization of and satisfaction with adolescent health care services reported by mothers and their relation to maternal well-being. Participants included 73 mothers and their adolescents with developmental disabilities who had been recruited as infants and toddlers from early intervention programs to participate in a longitudinal investigation, the Early Intervention Collaborative Study. Data were collected through parent reports and structured assessments with adolescents. Regression analyses were conducted to test whether utilization and maternal satisfaction with care related to maternal depressive symptoms or parenting stress after controlling for child and family characteristics. The results demonstrated that both utilization and maternal satisfaction with health care added unique variance in predicting lower levels of maternal stress and depressive symptoms.