1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Our aim […] was to use a population-based study to examine to what extent a diagnosis of SCM [severe congenital malformation] at birth was associated with family functioning and parents’ separation/divorce and if the impact might be moderated by birth order of the child with an SCM and parental level of education.» (p. 18)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Data were used from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, an ongoing population-based birth cohort study initiated in 1998.» (p. 18)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The results indicate that having a child with an SCM does not increase the probability of family functioning problems and does not increase the probability of parental separation. […] The findings suggest that, compared with parents of children without a SCM, parents of children with a SCM may be able to absorb and cope with this adverse situation. […] However, results at 5 months indicated that within families who had a child with SCM, family functioning was better in those who had a firstborn with an SCM than in those whose child was not a firstborn. […] One possible explanation for this is that when a firstborn has a diagnosis of SCM, the parents’ focus is on that child alone and the multiple complexities it brings including prolonged hospital stays, financial costs and a myriad of appointments often across a wide spectrum of paediatric specialities. [H]igher levels of parental education did not moderate the association of SCM and family functioning at 5 or 17 months. Bivariate analyses do show that mother and father education levels are associated with family functioning; however, in the multivariate analyses, the economic disadvantage variable, which is associated with education, appears to be a stronger moderator of the association between SCM and family functioning.» (p. 20-21)