The Relations Among Self-esteem, Stress and Coping Behaviors of Mothers with Handicapped Children

장애아 어머니의 자아존중감, 스트레스 및 대처행동간의 관계

Objective : The purposes of this study were two-fold; First it investigated self-esteem, stress and coping behaviors of mothers with handicapped children as a function of their and their children's characteristics; Second it examined the relationship among these variables. Method : The subjects were 294 mothers of handicapped children who were receiving treatment in one of the sixteen special therapy institutions in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Gangwon-do. Rosenberg's(1965) Self-Esteem Scale translated by Jeon Byung-Jea(1974) was used to measure the degree of mothers' self-esteem. Mothers' stress was assessed using the Support Burden Scale revised by Seong Jong-sook(2000) and their coping behavior was examined using Folkman's(1986) Coping Scale translated by Jeon Sung-hye. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson's Correlation. Result : The major results of this study were as follows; First, working mothers of handicapped children showed higher self-esteem and problem solving coping behavior more than non-working mothers. Self-esteem was found higher with high-income mothers than with low-income ones. Stress was shown more intense to low- and middle-income mothers than to high-income ones. Problem solving coping behavior was preferred more by high-and middle-income mothers than by low-income ones. Second, mothers with the mild-handicap children showed higher self-esteem than those with the first-degree handicap ones. Mothers of children with first-, second- and third-degree handicap perceived more stress than those with mild handicap. Coping behavior was significantly different depending on the severity of children's handicap, but no significant difference was found among the groups. Third, the higher the self-esteem of mothers was, the less they perceived stress and used more of problem solving coping behavior. When mothers perceived a great deal of stress, they used more of emotion-oriented coping behaviors.