Influence of Parental Roles in the Emotional Well-Being of Children with Special Needs

Emotional well-being among children with special needs has been significantly found to be low across multiple studies. While several factors that influence the emotional well-being of children with special needs have been studied, the present study seeks to investigate the influence of parental role on the emotional well-being of children with special needs. The Questionnaire on Emotional Wellbeing of Children with Special Needs and the Scale on Parental Roles of the Parents with Children with Special Needs were used. The sample consisted of A total of 300 parents, comprising 129 fathers (43%) and 171 mothers (57%), selected from Mysuru and Mandya districts. Statistical analysis involved the independent sample t-test and ANOVA. Results revealed that higher levels of parental roles showed higher levels of overall emotional wellbeing sores in children with special needs. Specific components of higher parental roles were seen to increase emotional well-being, in the behavioural and social interaction area, and psychomotor physical activity components of emotional well-being among children with special needs. The moderate level of parental role behaviour showed the least emotional well-being in children with special needs in these components. Possible reasons for how parental roles may impact emotional well-being among children with special needs and their implications in developing parent training and implementation of rehabilitation services for children with special needs have been delineated.