An exploratory study of the relationships between adolescents with impaired mobility and their parents in Greek families

Abstract

This study questions commonly held Greek social policy assumptions that families are the best and only providers of support to children and adolescents with impaired mobility. This is because the experiences of family life by Greek adolescents with such impairments can be characterized by a cycle of over‐protection, dependency and social isolation. We also identify theories of disability that might help to explain the life experiences of the adolescents in our study. Because there is limited research that has examined such ideas in the Greek context we propose an initial and modest hypothesis informed by these theories to explain this cycle of impaired functional, psychological and social development experienced by these adolescents in Greek society.