Maternal acceptance–rejection, self-compassion and empathy in mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to determine the link between Parental Acceptance-Rejection (PAR) and empathy and self-compassion in mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Method: The sample consists of 161 mothers who received pre-school education with children diagnosed with IDDs in Iran. The parental acceptance-rejection questionnaire, empathy questionnaire, and self-compassion scale were used as the data collection instruments, which have been analyzed through canonical correlation test. Results: There is a positive correlation between children's self-empathy and self-compassion and the PAR, and there is no significant relationship between mother's affection levels and empathy levels, but there is a significant negative relationship between mother's affection levels and child's self-compassion levels. Conclusion: when the PAR level increases, self-compassion level decreases. It provides support to predict a significant relationship between the mothers’ acceptance-rejection variables who have an IDD child and empathy and self-compassion.

Keywords:

• empathy
• self-compassion
• parental acceptance-rejection
• mothers
• intellectual and developmental disabilities children

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all parents and children who cooperated in this study.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.