Resilience, coping, and posttraumatic growth in fathers of children with intellectual disabilities: Stress as moderator

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Stanisława Byra,Katarzyna Ćwirynkało
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12750

RESEARCH

Resilience, coping, and posttraumatic growth in

fathers of children with intellectual disabilities:

Stress as moderator

Stanisława Byra

1

|Katarzyna 

Cwirynkało

2

1

Department of Methodology of Pedagogical

Sciences, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University,

Lublin, Poland

2

Department of Special Education and Social

Rehabilitation, University of Warmia and

Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland

Correspondence

Katarzyna 

Cwirynkało, University of Warmia

and Mazury in Olsztyn,_

Zołnierska 14, 10-561

Olsztyn, Poland.

Email: k.cwirynkalo@uwm.edu.pl

Abstract

Objective: We sought to examine the correlation between

resilience and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in fathers of

children with intellectual disabilities (ID), exploring the

mediating effect of coping. We also tested whether this

mediation effect is moderated by sense of stress.

Background: Raising a child with ID has been associated

with both negative and positive aspects of psychological

functioning. Little is known, however, about determinants

of positive changes in fathers.

Method: The data for this study come from 106 Polish

fathers of children with ID who completed a set of ques-

tionnaires measuring PTG, resilience, coping strategies,

and sense of stress. The relations between variables using

moderated mediation were tested.

Results: PTG correlates positively with resilience. Coping

strategies (i.e., seeking emotional support and religion) are

mediators of this relationship, and sense of stress is a modera-

tor of this mediation. Higher levels of sense of stress increase

the mediating role of these coping strategies, which translates

into higher PTG in fathers with higher resilience.

Conclusion: The relationship between resilience and PTG

is complex, mediated by coping strategies, and differs in

fathers with high and low stress.

Implications: Knowledge on the importance of resilience and

coping strategies for experiencing positive changes may be used

by professionals working with fathers raising children with ID.

KEYWORDS

children with intellectual disabilities, fathers, fathers’coping strategies,

posttraumatic growth, resilience, sense of stress

Author note: The authors acknowledge the fathers of children with intellectual disabilities for their willingness to participate in the study

Received: 8 February 2021Revised: 4 February 2022Accepted: 18 June 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12750

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

2178 Family Relations. 2023;72:2178–2193.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

The aim of this article is to understand the links between resilience and posttraumatic growth

(PTG) in fathers of children with intellectual disabilities (ID). We explored themediating effect

of coping and test whether this mediation effect is moderated by sense of stress. On thebasis of

a theoretically based conceptual model of the relations between these variables, we used psycho-

metrically reliable measures and data gathered from 106 fathers of children with ID.

BACKGROUND

Studies on the well-being of mothers of children diagnosed with ID has been a focus of research,

whereas less research addresses psychological functioning and the determinants of positive

changes that fathers of children with ID might experience. Generally, raising a child with ID is

considered to be a demanding task that may cause parents considerable stress (Giallo

et al., 2015; Kalgotra & Warwal, 2016; Meppelder et al., 2015). Numerous studies in this area

concentrate on adverse aspects of parenthood in general and fatherhood specifically—for exam-

ple, depression (Olsson & Hwang, 2001), anxiety (Kalgotra & Warwal, 2016), mental health dif-

ficulties (Giallo et al., 2015), and negative feelings after children’s diagnoses (Marsh

et al., 2018). There is still little research referring to positive aspects of parenting children with

ID (Lloyd & Hastings, 2009). Additionally, literature review (Beighton & Wills, 2019) indicates

that the positive aspects of parenting children with ID are not consistently defined and draw

from various conceptual frameworks.

In the present research project, we examine posttraumatic growth PTG in accordance with

the functional–descriptive model of PTG by Calhoun and Tedeschi (2006) in which PTG is

presented as a positive, psychological change that results from successfully dealing with the con-

sequences of an event that is traumatic for the individual. PTG, which can be experienced by

parents raising a child with a disability (Byra &

Cwirynkało, 2020; Park & Chung, 2015), is the

result of long-lasting traumatic experience due to parenting a child diagnosed with disability

(Scorgie et al., 1996) and is associated with activating coping strategies, resources, and complex,

dynamic adaptation to parenting a child with a disability.

Studies on PTG in parents of children with disabilities are often concentrated on mothers

(e.g., Byra et al., 2017). Their results, however, cannot be generalized to fathers because mater-

nal and paternal situations and outcomes may differ. For example, previous research with

fathers of children with ID has shown that although they generally report less positive contribu-

tions than mothers (Hastings et al., 2005), fathers have lower depression (Olsson &

Hwang, 2001), emotional tension, stress (Suwalska-Barancewicz & Malina, 2013), and anxiety

(Kalgotra & Warwal, 2016) scores and experience higher well-being than mothers (Norlin &

Broberg, 2013). This difference in well-being may be connected with gendered parenting respon-

sibilities: Mothers undertake more daily caregiving tasks and report more caregiving difficulties

than fathers (Rowbotham & Carroll, 2011).

There is a growing body of research that analyses and explains the correlations between

PTG and psychological, social, and environmental factors (e.g., Prati & Pietrantoni, 2009;Wu

et al., 2019). Intrapsychic factors, such as self-esteem or optimism, seem to be significant

because they are associated with cognitive and emotional work on trauma and its consequences

(Prati & Pietrantoni, 2009). As researchers have shown, one of the most important intrapsychic

factors is resilience (e.g., Bensimon, 2012). The concept of resilience seems to be similar to

PTG, but these two variables are not the same and are defined in various ways as a result of a

multitude of theoretical approaches. For the purposes of this article, out of several conceptuali-

zations of resilience in which it can be understood to be less or more susceptible to environmen-

tal influence (Bonanno, 2004), we examine an approach according to which resilience is

recognized as a relatively stable personality trait or disposition with adaptive functions, condu-

cive to successfully dealing with difficult situations (Bonanno, 2004). From this trait/disposition

POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH IN FATHERS OF CHILDREN WITH ID2179