Predicting Family Functioning based on Control of Negative Thinking and Parental Stress with Mediating Role of Sexual Satisfaction: Model Presentation in Parents of Children with Learning Disorder

Learning disabilities are problems that negatively affect an individual's education and education-related skills such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and others because of having different perceptions of what they see. Parents may wonder what his future will be like despite this problem. Various factors affect the family function of parents with learning disabilities; one of the factors is controlling negative thinking. This study aimed to predict family functioning based on the control of negative thinking and parental stress with the mediating role of sexual satisfaction.

Method:

In this correlational study, 212 Parents of children with learning disorders in Tehran were selected through the purposive sampling method. For each parameter calculated, at least 10 participants are required to test the model. In this study, the Family functioning of McMaster (1983), and the Control of negative thinking of Wales & Davis (1994) include subscales that measure individual differences in controlling annoying thoughts. Strategies for controlling thinking are distraction, worry, social strategies, self-discipline, and re-evaluating thinking are used, Also Parenting Stress Questionnaire of Abidin (1992), which includes items covering adaptability, child domain, mood, attachment, acceptance, extravagance, reinforcement, inattention / over-action, relationship with spouse, parent domain, depression, sense of competence, role constraints, parental health, isolation It is life… and finally Sexual satisfaction of Hadson, et al. (1981) was used for data collection in this study which assesses couples' satisfaction levels. The proposed model was evaluated using a structural equation method. 

Results:

There is a significant relationship between control of negative thinking with family functioning (p<0.01), sexual satisfaction with family functioning (p<0.01), control of negative thinking with sexual satisfaction (p<0.01), spiritual well-being with sexual satisfaction (p<0.01), but there was a significant relationship between parental stress with family functioning (p>0.05). Also, indirect pathways were significant control of negative thinking with family functioning with mediating role of sexual satisfaction (p<0.01), parental stress with family functioning with mediating role of sexual satisfaction (p<0.01).

Discussion:

The results indicate that there are high levels of conflict and low levels of cohesion in families with children with learning disabilities. It is natural to expect these families to be affected by the symptoms of the child disorder and for parental problems to increase in these families. When parents can acquire these skills, they can be aware of problems and stresses and find appropriate solutions, thus reducing stress in their relationship with the child as well as marital relationships, and improving sexual satisfaction as well as family functioning. Find. Thus, it can be said that sexual satisfaction plays a mediating role in the relationship between controlling negative thinking and parenting stress with family functioning. The statistical population of this study was limited & through questionnaires, which makes the generalization of the results and bias issue with caution. Therefore, it is suggested that more research be done on other samples to generalize the results. And also holding workshops, to strengthen the control of negative thinking and reduce parental stress, it is possible to increase sexual satisfaction in them and increase family functioning.