Abstract
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Highlights
● Most of the mothers of children and adolescents with Cerebral Palsy (CP) have overindulgence or overprotection attitudes toward their child.
● Contrary to expectations, only a small proportion of parental attitude toward children and adolescents with CP is influenced by child factors.
● Among the child factors, the most prominent predictor of lesser acceptance is spastic quadriplegia.
Plain Language Summary
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disorder of movement and posture caused by damage to the developing brain. Parenting of children and adolescents with CP is often challenging and a burden to the family. Consequently, parents of these children may develop negative attitudes toward them and negative attitudes can cause a variety of psychosocial problems for the child, adolescent, or the family. Previous studies had shown that parental attitude toward children and adolescents with CP is influenced by a variety of factors such as the child’s age, sex, the severity of the disability, and birth order. But, could these factors influence parental attitudes in an Iranian context too? It was expected that the majority of the negative parental attitude toward children and adolescents with CP would be caused by child factors, and most importantly the child’s disability. However, no studies had already investigated that how much of the parental attitude is influenced by child factors. It was found in this study that the most common parental attitudes toward children and adolescents with CP are overindulgence and overprotection, but contrary to expectations, child factors influence only a small proportion of the parental attitude. In other words, the majority of the attitudes that parents of children and adolescents with CP have toward their child is caused by determinants other than child factors. In conclusion, there are two main implications for this study: (i) considering the importance of parental attitudes in the psychosocial development of the child, there is a need for interventions, other than common rehabilitation services, to promote parental acceptance. (ii) Further research needs to be conducted to specify the most prominent determinant of the parental attitude toward children and adolescents with CP.