Interpersonal Trauma and Caregiving Among Parents with Intellectual Disability

Parents with intellectual disability (ID) have a heightened risk for caregiving-related difficulties, and often their children have negative developmental outcomes. Historically, these risks have often been assumed to stem primarily from the parents’ disability per se, which has contributed to stigma and prejudice toward parents with ID. Theory and research have, however, increasingly recognized the role of contextual factors that convey risk or resilience for caregiving and child development in families headed by parents with ID. One such risk factor regards parental experiences of childhood maltreatment and other types of interpersonal trauma (IPT). In this entry, empirical evidence pertaining to exposure to IPT among parents with ID, and links between such exposure and caregiving-related and child developmental outcomes, is reviewed. Most (>50%) parents with ID have experienced some form of IPT. The sum of the evidence also suggests that parental exposure to IPT increases the risk for caregiving difficulties—and for other caregiving-related risks—in this population, while links with children’s developmental outcomes remain uncertain. Limitations of the extant evidence base are also reviewed, and it is concluded that several important research questions remain to be more adequately addressed by the research community. Such questions include the role of accumulation of IPT for caregiving-related difficulties, the significance of IPT for caregiving among fathers with ID, and the impact of parents’ exposure to IPT for their children’s development.