THE ROLE OF MARITAL STRESS AND GENDER IN DEPRESSION AMONG PARENTS WITH MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN

Hyacinth E. Mgbenkemdi

Department of Psychology

Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria.

E-mails: iamejike@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract: This study examined the role of Marital Stress and gender in depression among parents with mentally retarded children. Twenty seven (27) parents comprising 11 males and 16 females were drawn from Evami Special School Independence Layout, Enugu for the study. Cross- section Survey was used. Omoluabi (1994) 50-item Marital Stress Inventory and Radloff (1977) 20-item (CES-D scale) Center for Epidemiological Study Depression scale validated by Okafor (1997) with reliability index scoring of 0.85, Ugwu (1998) with concurrent validity index scoring of 0.41 and Omeje (2000) with reliability and validity index scoring of 0.85 and 0.92 respectively measuring depression in a general population were administered. 2×2 Analysis of Variance F-test as statistical test revealed no significant influence of marital stress on depression, F (1, 23) = 0.14 at P> .05. Gender, also, did not influence depression, F (1, 23) = 0.41 at P> .05. It was concluded that marital stress and gender as independent and interacting factors had no role in depression among this sample of parents with mentally retarded children.