Positive and negative events experienced by parents with acquired physical disabilities and their adolescent children

Research on the positive and negative events experienced by parents with acquired physical disabilities is limited, and research on their children's experiences is even rarer. Thus, with this project the author merged stress-and-coping research with the social model of disability to develop two specifically tailored profiles of life events specific to the experiences of these family members. Fifty knowledgeable informants (parents with acquired disabilities, their spouses, their adolescent children, and professionals) were interviewed about the positive and negative aspects of being or living with a parent with a physical disability. From these discussions, the author identified samples of meaningful positive and negative events so that future researchers can examine the associations among the experiences of these events and adolescents' and parents' coping and adjustment as well as evaluate social policy to reduce barriers and create supports for parents with physical disabilities and their families.