Grandparent support for families of children with down's syndrome

Although grandparents are recognized as an important source of support for families of children with intellectual and other disabilities, there has been very little research in this area. The aim of the present paper is to present a brief overview of the literature, and to present data from a preliminary study of relationships between parental stress and grandparent support and conflict. Sixty-one parents of children (aged 2-23 yrs) with Down's syndrome (34 mothers [mean age 39.65 yrs] and 27 fathers [mean age 42.59 yrs]) completed questionnaires on grandparent support and conflict. Parents also completed the Friedrich Short Form of the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS) with scoring amended to include a depression sub-scale. The main findings were: (1) grandparent support and conflict were associated with mothers' but not fathers' ratings of stress on the QRS, and (2) both grandparent support and conflict made independent contributions to the prediction of mothers' stress on at least one dimension of the QRS. Practical implications of the results for interventions designed to encourage grandparent support for families are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)