Parenting and employment decisions of parents with a preschool child with a disability

Abstract

Twenty couples, each with a young child with a disability, and 20 matched couples with a normally developing child were interviewed about their current employment status, their reasons for their status, and their attitudes towards parenting. There was a disproportionate number of mothers of a child with a disability in part-time employment in comparison to the mothers of children who were developing normally. Mothers' reasons for their employment situation differed between the two groups, with the medical needs of the child with the disability being an important consideration. There were no differences between the groups with respect to their beliefs about parenting. Domestic and childcare responsibilities did not differ between the two groups with mothers carrying most of the burden in families in which there was a child with a disability and also in families where all children were developing normally.