Measurement invariance of the Positive Gains Scale in families of children with and without disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Despite the high frequency of case-control studies in the developmental disability literature, there is a paucity of research establishing the measurement equivalence of instruments used, and particularly those relating to positive perceptions and experiences in family disability research. AIMS: The present study sought to establish measurement invariance for the Positive Gains Scale (PGS) across 1219 mothers of children with developmental disabilities, 234 mothers of children with spina bifida/hydrocephalus, and 157 mothers of children without disabilities. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: A three-step test for measurement invariance across the three groups was conducted using Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Loadings between the three groups were invariant, suggesting the criteria to assume metric invariance was met. However, the assumption of scalar invariance was not met, suggesting that item intercepts differed between the three groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that the PGS cannot be meaningfully used to compare outcomes between mothers of children with developmental disabilities and other mothers. These findings may have wider implications for research utilising well-being measures to make comparisons with carers of children with developmental disabilities.

1000 Families Study, a UK multiwave cohort investigating the well-being of families of children with intellectual disabilities: cohort profile.

PURPOSE: The 1000 Families Study is a large, UK-based, cohort of families of children with intellectual disability (ID). The main use of the cohort data will be to describe and explore correlates of the well-being of families of children with ID, including parents and siblings, using cross-sectional and (eventually) longitudinal analyses. The present cohort profile intends to describe the achieved cohort. PARTICIPANTS: Over 1000 families of UK children with ID aged between 4 and 15 years 11 months (total n=1184) have been recruited. The mean age of the cohort was 9.01 years old. The cohort includes more boys (61.8%) than girls (27.0%; missing 11.1%). Parents reported that 45.5% (n=539) of the children have autism. Most respondents were a female primary caregiver (84.9%), and 78.0% were the biological mother of the cohort child with ID. The largest ethnic group for primary caregivers was White British (78.5%), over half were married and living with their partner (53.3%) and 39.3% were educated to degree level. FINDINGS TO DATE: Data were collected on family, parental and child well-being, as well as demographic information. Wave 1 data collection took place between November 2015 and January 2017, primarily through online questionnaires. Telephone interviews were also completed by 644 primary caregivers. FUTURE PLANS: Wave 2 data collection is ongoing and the research team will continue following up these families in subsequent waves, subject to funding availability. Results will be used to inform policy and practice on family and child well-being in families of children with ID. As this cohort profile aims to describe the cohort, future publications will explore relevant research questions and report key findings related to family well-being.

Maternal Stress and the Functions of Positivity in Mothers of Children with Intellectual Disability.

Although mothers raising children with Intellectual Disability (ID) report poorer mental health than parents raising typically developing children, they also report feelings of positivity; both generally and specific to their child. To date little is known about the function of maternal positivity thus, we explored the putative compensatory and protective functions of maternal positivity, within both a cross-sectional and one-year longitudinal framework that examined the relationship between children's behaviour and mental health problems with maternal mental health problems. Participants included 135 mothers of children with severe ID who were between 3 and 18 years of age. Multiple linear regression models investigated the potential function of maternal positivity. At a cross-sectional level, maternal positivity was found to be a significant independent predictor of maternal stress and moderated the impact of child behaviour problems on maternal parenting stress. Longitudinally, maternal positivity did not have a direct effect on later parenting stress nor function as a moderator. Findings from our cross-sectional analysis are consistent with the view that positivity serves a compensatory function. Further exploration is needed to understand the longitudinal function of maternal positivity.