MENTAL-HEALTH OF AGING WOMEN WITH CHILDREN WHO ARE CHRONICALLY DISABLED - EXAMINATION OF A 2-FACTOR MODEL

Data were collected from 838 women over age 50 who have either a child with a developmental disability or a child with schizophrenia. Lawton et al.'s (1991) parallel channel hypothesis, which suggests that posi tive and negative aspects of mental health have differential predictor s, was tested. Results indicate that positive caregiving appraisals we re predicted by quality of the mother-child relationship, while negati ve caregiving appraisals were predicted by the amount of help mother p rovided to her child, mother's health, child's behaviors, and positive appraisals. Positive wellbeing was predicted by mother's health, posi tive appraisals, and negative appraisals, while negative well-being wa s predicted by mother's health, child's behaviors, and negative apprai sals. Hence, the data support the usefulness of the hypothesized model .