Anxiety and defence strategies in mothers of children with different disabilities
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1Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden.
Anxiety was scored with a questionnaire (HAD) in four groups of women: 18 mothers of psychotic children, 18 mothers of children with various motor handicaps, 13 mothers of children with Down's syndrome and a reference group of 13 women without handicapped children. High scores for anxiety were particularly common in mothers of psychotic children. All subjects were also tested with a percept-genetic technique aimed at demonstrating anxiety evoked by a threatening stimulus and the defence strategies activated. In the total material, persons characterized by such anxiety signs and few defensive strategies in this test had high anxiety scores on the HAD scale (p = .03). A significant proportion (50 per cent) of mothers of psychotic children with high HAD anxiety scores had this characteristic response pattern. In mothers of children with other handicaps and with high HAD anxiety scores this combination was unusual (8 per cent). Percept-genetic tests are claimed to be personality tests. The results may therefore indicate personality traits which are especially common among mothers of psychotic children and are associated with a disposition towards anxiety.
Anxiety was scored with a questionnaire (HAD) in four groups of women: 18 mothers of psychotic children, 18 mothers of children with various motor handicaps, 13 mothers of children with Down's syndrome and a reference group of 13 women without handicapped children. High scores for anxiety were particularly common in mothers of psychotic children. All subjects were also tested with a percept-genetic technique aimed at demonstrating anxiety evoked by a threatening stimulus and the defence strategies activated. In the total material, persons characterized by such anxiety signs and few defensive strategies in this test had high anxiety scores on the HAD scale (p = .03). A significant proportion (50 per cent) of mothers of psychotic children with high HAD anxiety scores had this characteristic response pattern. In mothers of children with other handicaps and with high HAD anxiety scores this combination was unusual (8 per cent). Percept-genetic tests are claimed to be personality tests. The results may therefore indicate personality traits which are especially common among mothers of psychotic children and are associated with a disposition towards anxiety.