Perceived maternal child-rearing behavior among disabled and non-disabled adolescents

The purposes of this study were (a) to contrast the reported perceptions of maternal rearing using the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory of 70 disabled (cerebral palsied) and 70 non-disabled adolescents of similar sex, age, intelligence, and socioeconomic status and (b) to evaluate the impact of severity of physical impairment within the disabled group. Analyses of variance were completed using group (disabled/controls) as one dimension and sex as the within-groups source. Partial correlations were used to assess the relationship between severity of incapacitation and perceived maternal behavior. Of the 18 main effects, two were significant, suggesting that the non-disabled perceived their mothers as more possessive and intrusive than did the disabled. Males perceived their mothers as significantly more lax in discipline and allowing more autonomy than did females. Severity of disability was only modestly related to perceived maternal behavior. With this sample of disabled adolescents it was suggested that a physically handicapping condition and its severity may be of more limited influence in the maternal rearing process than assumed.