Investigating the psychological profile of parents with and without mentally retarded children based on Milon's multi-axis questionnaire in Tabriz in 2014-2015

Dissertation for Master's Degree in General Psychology (M.A)

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of comparing the psychological profile of parents with and without mentally retarded children based on Milon's multi-axis questionnaire. This is a descriptive research of causal-comparative type. 50 parents of mentally retarded children of exceptional schools in Tabriz were selected as available and matched with 50 parents of non-clinical students in terms of age, gender, and education level. Milon III's Multiaxial Clinical Questionnaire (MCMI-III) was used to collect research data. The results showed that parents of mentally retarded children had lower mean scores in total clinical personality patterns (depressed, antisocial, negative), total severe personality damage (borderline), PTSD, total severe symptoms (thought disorder, delusional disorder) and total Milon scale (P<0.05) compared to parents of normal control children. In other personality disorders, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of parents. Parents with a male mentally retarded child had higher mean scores in avoidant, dramatic, and narcissistic personality disorders than parents with a female mentally retarded child (P<0.05). In other personality disorders, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of parents. Mothers of mentally retarded children reported higher scores in obsessive personality disorders and fathers in antisocial personality disorders, other annoying, schizotypal, manic, clinical symptoms, alcohol dependence, and substance dependence (P<0.05) compared to fathers of mentally retarded children. In other personality disorders, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of parents. According to research findings, parents of mentally retarded children suffer from more symptoms of personality disorders. 

Research keywords: psychological profile, parents of mentally retarded children, personality disorders,

Introduction

Mental retardation is a disorder that appears from childhood. It is characterized by below average intellectual functioning (IQ of 70 or less). Educable mentally retarded people are people whose IQ is 50-70 and who are able to learn a minimum of general information and formal classroom lessons such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, and appropriate job skills, and can benefit from their education in managing their lives (Asanlu, 2019).  

According to family system theories, the behavior of each family member affects the behavior of other family members, so the presence of any psychiatric disorder in children as well as parents affects other family members (Sieg[1], Delber[2], Stanford[3], Sotolo[4], McDonorian[5] et al., 2007). On the other hand, it should not be ignored that the genetic similarity of parents and children can coordinate the susceptibility to mental disorders in both cases in a relatively large way. So that children with psychiatric disorders have parents who suffer from many psychiatric disorders (Gottsman[6], Larsen[7], Bertelsen[8] and Mortensen[9], 2010).

Considering that personality provides an overview of the mental state of each person, therefore, in the first step, knowing the personality helps to better understand and predict the future behavior of the person (American Psychiatric Association, 2011). Based on this, examining the profile of personality disorders of parents with mentally retarded children will help to understand the relationship between the psychiatric problems of parents and children. Basically, the family is a small social organization whose members' relationships, especially the relationships between parents and children, are the most important formative element of this organization. The favorable and healthy growth of children in all aspects depends on the effective and favorable communication between parents and children. Many theoretical and experimental analyzes have been devoted to the effective communication of parents with children and have given special importance and value to it. On the other hand, many studies and researches have paid attention to the effect of the child on each of the parents and other family members or on the whole family as a two-way relationship and mutual influence, but examining the psychological foundations of effective and favorable communication between parents and children is considered one of the most important issues in the privacy of the family and its mental health (Mirzabigi, 2008).

The family is a social system in which the disorder in each of its components and members disrupts the whole system and this system is disturbed In turn, it aggravates the disorders related to the organs and creates new problems.With this attitude, the disability of one of the children often has a negative effect on the whole family and its various functions and on each member. These effects are not inevitable, unlike the disability that has occurred, or at least they can be compensated and mitigated to a large extent. The presence of an exceptional child in the family causes the deterioration of in-group and out-group family relationships, and this distortion of relationships causes traumatic problems in the family environment (Ashkan, 2013).

Accepting the principle that human beings are inherently social beings and need communication, the presence of a child with exceptional characteristics in many cases causes the disruption of out-group relationships and its effect on intra-family relationships. Basically, the occurrence of mental retardation in a child causes many emotional problems in the family atmosphere, which on the one hand causes disturbances in the mental health of the family members and on the other hand distorts the healthy and peaceful family environment that the mentally retarded child needs for mental growth and relative fertility. Therefore, having a child with a developmental disability may create a crisis for the family system. The greater the mental disability, the greater and more objective its effects on the family (Nazari et al., 2017). Mohammadi and Dadkhah (1381) showed that 76.7% of mothers of mentally retarded children had severe mental problems and 61.7% had severe social problems, while 55% and 38.3% of fathers had moderate mental problems and mild social problems, respectively. Majumdar, Silvapereira and Fernandez[10] (2005) have shown that parents of mentally retarded children have more anxiety and stress than parents of normal control children. 

It seems that the mental pressure resulting from the problems of having a mentally retarded child causes the severity of family problems and family members choose new behavioral patterns to adapt to the new problem. According to what has been said, mental retardation can have a great impact on the family and parents and can increase the symptoms of personality disorders. Accordingly, in this research, the role of mental retardation of children in the personality problems of parents has been discussed.

2-1 statement of the problem

The family is a social system that the disorder in each of its members and components can disrupt the entire family system and cause the current problems to intensify and the emergence of new problems. It seems that mental retardation as one of the developmental disorders is not excluded from this rule. The existence of a mentally retarded child and various problems in his care and upbringing puts a lot of pressure on parents and the family as a whole unit, which in turn can endanger the mental health of the parents and cause the balance and its members to be disturbed and their inefficiency in performing family duties (Ganji, 2012). 

Those parents who expect their children to achieve goals that they could not achieve in life, experience despair and hopelessness when a mentally retarded child enters their lives, so they are hit twice (Aghababai, Staki-Azad and Abedi, 2013).

With the presence of a mentally retarded child, care problems arise for the family and especially stressful experiences for the parents. Such a situation prevents the family from being able to carry out its normal functions such as raising children, social relations, employment, leisure time, and marital relations. On the other hand, constant stress in parents causes many psychological problems for them. As previous researches have shown that parents of mentally retarded children have many problems in different dimensions of mental health.

In the development of a more accurate understanding of the psychological profile of people, the personality approach and especially the profile of clinical personality patterns can be used. Personality is somewhat unique to a human in matching with the environment, which is somewhat different from the way of other humans. The behavioral treasury of each person makes him different from others and determines his way of dealing with others. With this definition, personality disorder is not a disease (Sharifi, 2016), therefore Milon uses the term "clinical patterns of personality" instead of the word disorder and also mentions that the main characteristic of people with personality disorder is their inadequate coping style.