Expressed emotion and impulsiveness in mothers of children with Fragile X Syndrome and Down Syndrome: The relation to behavioral problems in their offspring

Abstract

Background: Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and Down Syndrome (DS) are common causes of Intellectual Disability (ID). Mothers of individuals with FXS sometimes have the premutation condition which makes them display neurocognitive signs, such as impulsiveness impairments, while mothers of DS individuals, as a group, do not have impairments. Although behavior problems in individuals with ID may be related to high Expressed Emotion (EE) in parents, parenting in families with ID members has been little explored.

Aim: To explore the relationship between a mother's EE and impulsiveness, in mothers of individuals with FXS and DS, with behavior problems in their offspring.

Method: A questionnaire was developed to collect data about impulsiveness and EE in mothers, along with information about behavior problems in ID individuals.

Results: EE scores were associated with behavior problems in their offspring for both samples. Mothers with the premutation showed higher scores in EE than mothers of DS individuals. However, impulsiveness scores were not different between both parental groups, and were related to EE scores.

Conclusions: EE is a parental feature that is possible to modulate and seems to be related to behavior problems in ID individuals. More research should be carried on to create interventions to reduce this attitude in parents of ID individuals.

Keywords: Behavior problems; Down syndrome; Expressed emotion; Fragile X Syndrome and impulsiveness.