Psychological distress in mothers of disabled children.

We examined the impact of child disability on psychological distress in mothers, by comparing scores on two indexes of psychological distress of 369 mothers of children with cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, myelodysplasia, or multiple physical handicaps, with those of 456 mothers from a randomly selected sample of families ("control" subjects). Mothers of disabled children scored significantly higher than control subjects on both indexes of psychological distress. This finding persisted when the mothers' education, family income, and racial composition were controlled for.