Comparing the family function, marital satisfaction and thinking styles of mothers of children with learning disabilities and mothers of children with normal children

The purpose of this study was to compare the family function, marital satisfaction and thinking styles of mothers of children with learning disabilities and mothers of children with normal children. The research design of this study was causal-comparative. The population of this study included all mothers of children with learning disabilities and mothers of children with normal children in Ardakan and Meybod schools in the academic year of 2016-2017. Through available sampling method, 140 mothers (70 mothers of children with learning disabilities and 70 mothers of children with normal children) were selected. Data were collected using Smilkstein’s Family Apgar Scale, Enrich marriage satisfaction and Sternberg and Wanger’s thinking styles inventory. Data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. The findings showed that mothers of children with learning disabilities have less family function and marital satisfaction than mothers of childen with normal children. Also, legislative, executive and judicial thinking styles were higher in mothers of normal children than mothers of children with learning disabilities (p < 0.05). Therefore, the improvement of thinking styles, marital satisfaction and family functioning of mothers of children with learning disabilities could help to improve their children's performance.