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Demands of Maternal Chronic Illness and Children’s Educational Functioning: An Exploratory Study

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Abstract

The study explored the associations between characteristics (e.g., type of illness, years of illness, time spent on managing illness related activities, and the extent of physical impairment) of maternal chronic illness, household income, demands of illness experienced by the patients and their families, and their children’s academic achievement. One hundred and fifty mothers who were diagnosed with chronic physical illness (e.g., diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, etc.) participated in this study by completing a questionnaire asking their medical condition, experienced demands imposed by their illness, as well as their children’s grades in school. The results indicated that years of illness, extent of physical impairment, time spent on managing illness related activities, and household income were significantly associated with the demands imposed by the mothers’ physical illness. Household income was found to be the most robust predictor of children’s grades in the sample of chronically ill mothers. Implications and limitations of the present study will be discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Psychology Program, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Yung-Chi Chen

  2. Hospital Clinic Home Center Instructional Corp, 585 Schenectady Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Yung-Chi Chen

  3. School Psychology Program, Department of Educational and Community Programs, Division of Education, Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY, 11367, USA

    Marian C. Fish

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  1. Yung-Chi Chen
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  2. Marian C. Fish
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Correspondence to Yung-Chi Chen.

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Chen, YC., Fish, M.C. Demands of Maternal Chronic Illness and Children’s Educational Functioning: An Exploratory Study. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 30, 257–274 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0288-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-012-0288-7

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