Family Stress and well being of the Parents having Children with and without Developmental Delay

This study aimed at ascertaining differences in family stress and well being of the parents having children with and without developmental delay. To achieve the objectives of the study, Family Stress Scale (1999) by Shanmugavela and PGI General Well Being Scale by Verma and Verma (2011) were used to measure the key variables i.e. family stress and well being. The purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of fifty parents (twenty five parents having children with developmental delay and twenty five parents having children without developmental delay). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for the analysis of data. The findings revealed that the parents having children with developmental delay experience higher amounts of stress and lacked in feeling of well being as compared to parents having children without developmental delay. Further, it was concluded that the parents having children with developmental delay differed significantly from the parents having children without developmental delay with respect to family stress and well being. Implications of these findings for future research and clinical practice were outlined.