Family resources and stress associated with having a mentally retarded child.

Concepts drawn from family stress theory and current empirical information on families of handicapped children were integrated to further understand factors influencing parental adjustment to stress associated with such children living at home. Internal and external family resources and characteristics of the children were examined. Mothers (n = 60) were asked to complete four relevant questionnaires. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that characteristics of the child and the family's crisis-meeting resources were significant predictors of various forms of stress. Clinical implications of these findings and current research directions were discussed.