This is an application for a five year Research Scientist Development Grant in which investigations already in progress will be continued and extended and new research will be planned and conducted. The primary focus of the research during the grant period is a longitudinal study of the impact of various childhood physical disabilities on the affected children and their families. The objectives of the study are to assess the consequences of physical disability on 1) the adjustment of the disabled children (in terms of physical, psychological and social functioning), 2) the psychological functioning of normal siblings, and 3) the emotional distress of mothers, and to ascertain the effects of family characteristics and socioeconomic factors on these outcomes. A two wave lontitudinal design will be used in which a sample of families with disabled children will be compared to a randomly selected sample of families. The first wave of data was gathered in 1978 and 1979 in home interviews with 369 mothers of children three to eighteen years old with cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, myelodysplasia, and multiple physical handicaps, and 459 mothers from randomly selected households in the same geographic area (Cuyahoga County, Ohio). The second wave of interviews will be conducted in 1983-1984. The availability of a comparison group will enable the separation of the effect of childhood disability from the effects of "normative" factors influencing the adjustment of family members. Multivariate statistical techniques will be used in cross-sectional comparisons of the two sample and in the study of later outcomes.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter