A comparison of personality factors and attitudes of parents of a learning disabled child and parents of a non-learning disabled child

The Problem. This study compared parents of a learning disabled child and parents of a non-learning disabled child for differences in (1) personality factors, (2) demographic variables of education, income, marital status, number of children, occupation, and race, (3) parental perception of the degree to which the child manifested behaviors characteristic of learning disabled children, and (4) the degree to which the parent felt his personality changed after the birth of his child. The Method. Subjects. Thirty couples with a learning disabled child and 30 couples with a non-learning disabled child volunteered to participate in the study. Test Instruments. Three questionnaires, the latter two developed for this study, were self-administered by parents: (1) Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire measured personality factors; (2) The Learning Disability Questionnaire assessed parental perception of the learning disability characteristics of the child; and (3) The Family Questionnaire collected demographic data and parental perception of personality changes after the birth of the child. Statistical Analysis. A t-test analyzed differences between the two groups of parents for (1) personality factors, (2) parental perception of learning disability characteristics of the child, and (3) the demographic variables of education, income, and number of children. A chi-square test compared differences between the two groups of parents for the demographic variables of occupation, race, and marital status. A frequency distribution described differences between the groups for parental perception of personality changes after the birth of the child. Results and Summary. Parents of a learning disabled child and parents of a nonlearning disabled child were similar for the demographic variables of marital status, number of children, and race; parents of a nonlearning disabled child tended to have a better education and a higher income. Parents1 personality factors were also similar with the exception of three statistically different factors on the 16 PF, Reserved vs. Outgoing, Trusting vs. Suspicious, and Relaxed vs. Tense: (1) Parents of a non-learning disabled child were in the direction of the Outgoing dimension, and (2) Mothers of a non-1earning disabled child were in the direction of the Tense and the Suspicious dimension. Parents of a learning disabled child reported more attitude changes after the birth of their child than did parents of a non-learning disabled child. In addition, mothers in each group reported more changes than did the father. Parents of a learning disabled child and parents of a non-learning disabled child also demonstrated an ability to assess learning disability characteristics manifested by their child.