Table1. Marital History and Background for Parents of a Child with Developmental Disabilities (DD) and those of a child with no disabilities (Comparison).
| Variables a |
DD (n=190) M (SD) or % |
Comparison (n=7,251) M (SD) or % |
t or x2 (df) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marital History b | |||
| Still married | 67.89% | 70.65% | .68 (2) |
| Death of spouse | 10.00% | 9.27% | |
| Divorce | 22.11% | 20.08% | |
| Parental Characteristics | |||
| Age (years) | 64.77 (4.72) | 64.70 (3.47) | - .31 (7439) |
| Gender (% female) | 51.58% | 53.72% | .34 (1) |
| Educational attainment | |||
| High school grad or less | 58.29% | 58.25% | .57 (2) |
| Some college | 14.44% | 16.21% | |
| BA or higher | 27.27% | 25.54% | |
| Family religion (% Catholic) | 38.42% | 41.89% | .91 (1) |
| Marital Characteristics | |||
| Age at marriage (years) | 22.38 (3.65) | 21.97 (3.11) | - 1.78 (7431)† |
| Time lag to the first child birth (months) | 23.12 (26.24) | 21.39 (19.79) | -1.18 (7439) |
| Number of children born during marriage | 3.47 (1.44) | 3.08 (1.24) | - 4.35 (7439)*** |
| Death of any child | 14.74% | 6.52% | 19.94 (1)*** |
| Target child's birth order (% first born) | 36.45% | 44.27% | 4.90 (1)* |
[Note]
a
Variables with missing data: educational attainment (n=4); family religion (n=17); age at marriage (n=8); death of any child (n=8).
b
Marital history categories refer to status of marriage involving the child with developmental disabilities or the target child for the comparison group.
†
p ≤ .10,
*
p ≤ .05,
**
p ≤ .01,
***
p ≤ .001