American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities · Apr 19, 2018

Lifelong Parenting of Adults With Developmental Disabilities: Growth Trends Over 20 Years in Midlife and Later Life

By Namkung EH, Greenberg JS, Mailick MR et al.

This research examined how parenting adults with developmental disabilities affects parental well-being beyond midlife and into old age. Parents of adults with developmental disabilities ( n = 249) and parents of adults without disabilities ( n = 9,016), studied in their early 50s and mid-60s, were longitudinally tracked into their early 70s. Compared to parents of adults without disabilities, parents of adults with disabilities showed a pattern of normative functioning in their 50s, followed by poorer well-being in their mid-60s, and further declines in health and well-being into the early 70s. Aging parents who co-resided with their adult child with disabilities were particularly vulnerable, experiencing a steeper increase in depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI) than parents whose child with disabilities lived away from home.

doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-123.3.228PubMed 29671639Populations