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Esbensen, A.J., Seltzer, M.M., & Greenberg, J.S. (2006). Depressive symptoms of adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability and their relation to maternal well being. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 3(4), 229-237. Little is known about the impact on the family of caring for an individual with both intellectual disability and a mental-health problem. We examined the relationship between depressive symptoms in adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability and concurrent maternal well-being as measured by depression, pessimism, subjective burden, and the mother's perception of the quality of the relationship with her son or daughter. We also examined the extent to which the adult's depressive symptoms predicted later maternal well-being after controlling for behavior problems and identified covariates. Seventy-one interviews were conducted with mothers regarding their own well-being and their children's behavior problems as part of a larger longitudinal study of mothers more than 55 years old caring for a coresiding adult son or daughter with intellectual disability. The adult with mild to moderate intellectual disability was interviewed about his or her depressive symptoms. The depressive symptoms of the adult with intellectual disability were correlated with concurrent maternal depression, and were predictive of future maternal depression, pessimism, and subjective burden. They also predict some measures of maternal well-being, and do so beyond what is predicted by behavior problems. These findings suggest that raising an adult child with a dual diagnosis may be more stressful than raising an adult child with intellectual disability only.
