The role of marital satisfaction and social activities on parents’ self-perception: evidence from Greek families of children with and without disabilities

The purpose of this study is to explore the association between marital satisfaction and social activities with parents’ self-perception. Self-perception included parents’ sense of self and their attitudes and beliefs about who they are as individuals and as parents. Three hundred and twenty-seven parents, having either a child with (D1-target group) or without (D2-control group) a disability, were enrolled in the study. We hypothesized that self-perception of parents in the target group would be lower in all measures. We also hypothesized that low self-perception will correlate with parents’ marital satisfaction and social activities. We found that parents of a child with disabilities reported significantly lower levels in all domains (self-perception, marital satisfaction and social activities) than parents of children without disabilities. Moreover, multigroup analyses confirmed that the structural paths between self-perception, marital satisfaction and social activities do not differ between D1 and D2 parents (χ²(127, N = 327) = 134.62, p>.05, CFI = 1.00 ≥ 0.90, RMSEA=.063 ≤.080, SRMR = 0.054 < 0.08, TLI = 1.000 > 0.95). Results are discussed in terms of children’s educational placement and their implications on children with and without disabilities unobstructed co-development and co-existence with their parents in the family context.