Parents with intellectual disability

Abstract

Questions around parents with intellectual disability have changed according to sociocultural shifts in the position and rights of people with intellectual disability. The early research focus on capacity for parenting has given way to a contextual model of parenting and child outcomes, increasingly tested in population-based samples. Epidemiological research shows that contextual variables such as low income, exposure to violence, and poor mental health partly account for negative outcomes. As theoretical models developed for other at risk populations prove increasingly helpful for understanding the challenges of parenting with intellectual disability, it becomes viable to adapt existing evidence-based parenting interventions and test these for this population. Ultimately, parenting research should become fully inclusive.