Effects of moderator variables in reducing stress outcome in mothers of children with handicaps.

There have been numerous reports of relationships between stressful life events and outcome dysfunction expressed in physical and/or interpersonal spheres. This study investigated the variables that help buffer mothers from the stresses that result from bearing and rearing a child with a handicap. Stressors related to the handicapped child were scaled (HREC) and a moderate correlation (-0.37) was identified between these stressors and the health and marital adjustment (OUTCOME) of the mother. It was further uncovered that there was a moderator variable affecting the relationship between stressors and outcome, and it protected the mothers from the effects of the stressors. This moderator variable, labeled Resources (RES), consists of emotional support, physical help, etc. in raising the handicapped child. The effect was demonstrated empirically. Using a partial correlation procedure, the influence of RES was statistically held constant and the -0.37 correlation between HREC and OUTCOME dropped to -0.05. This accounts for the finding that those mothers with high stressors but high resources had fewer outcome problems than those with less resources. The study demonstrates the presence of a moderator variable influencing the relationship between life stress and dysfunction.