Perceived role restriction and adjustment of mothers of children with chronic physical disability.

Examined the relationship between maternal perceived role restriction, the extent to which a mother feels unable to pursue her own interests due to responsibilities with raising a child with a chronic physical condition, and psychosocial adjustment in 50 mothers with children 6-11 years old who had a chronic physical disability. Perceived role restriction accounted for a significant increment in the variation in adjustment beyond that contributed by objective indices of the child's disability. Neither these objective parameters of the child's disability nor his or her level of problem behaviors predicted perceptions of role restriction. However, perception of social support did. The potential role of intrapersonal processes was discussed as a neglected component of a multidimensional model of adjustment in mothers of children with a chronic physical condition.