Family beyond parents? An exploration of family configurations and psychological adjustment in young adults with intellectual disabilities

"Eventually I'm gonna need people": Social capital among college students with developmental disability

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

About 18% of college students have disabilities. Social capital, resources we can tap from relationships, may be particularly valuable for students with disabilities. Yet, disabilities often limit the individual's ability to develop or use social capital. We studied how college students with developmental disabilities understand, develop, and use social capital.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

We conducted in-depth semi-structured Zoom interviews with 10 women with developmental disabilities enrolled at a public university in the southeastern United States early in 2021. We examined the qualitative data with thematic analysis.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Participants averaged age 20; 70% reported attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; 90% reported multiple diagnoses. Most participants described COVID-19 pandemic-related isolation and stress, which magnified both the need for relationships and awareness of that need, prompting participants to become proactive in forming and maintaining relationships despite anxiety about them. Themes were: foundational relationships, reciprocity, expanding horizons, a need for new relationships, focus on the future and relationship barriers.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Results highlight the importance of social relationships and the resources they provide to students with disabilities, particularly in stressful times. Colleges can help students by connecting them with others and providing strategies for building and maintaining social capital.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

College students with developmental disabilities often face challenges developing and maintaining social capital, resources derived from relationships with other people. These resources are key to success in school and after graduation, as students continue into adulthood. We studied how students with developmental disabilities build social capital. The students described their relationships with others and the types of support they contributed to and received from those relationships. We also extended previous research by examining pandemic-related effects, interviewing participants nearly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide recommendations for further research and ways colleges and universities can encourage social capital development among all students.

Perceptions of people with mild intellectual disability and their family members about family-based social capital in the Netherlands

Families play an important role in the lives of people with intellectual disability as they do for everyone. However, little research has addressed the views of people with intellectual disability about their families by using self-report. Individual family members may hold different views about their family relationships. Therefore, we used a social capital theoretical perspective to examine (a) how perceptions of people with mild intellectual disability (MID) about their family support networks compare to those of their family members and (b) what factors are associated with any diverging perceptions. Randomly selected participants with MID (n = 111) and their family members (n = 111) were interviewed individually at their homes using the Family Network Method-Intellectual Disability (FNM-ID). The FNM-ID examines how people define their family groups and how they perceive existing supportive relationships within this group. The findings showed that participants with MID perceived that they had somewhat denser family networks (i.e., bonding social capital) than family members perceived them to have and were more likely to report bridging social capital. They reported more relationships that involved them providing support to family members. This difference in estimation was greater when the participant with MID displayed higher levels of externalizing behaviour problems. They also perceived more reciprocity in their relationships with family. No differences were found in the estimated numbers of significant family members and relationships in which support was received. It is concluded that people with MID and their family members have different perceptions on several aspects of the family support network. Family professionals and services should seek the views of people with intellectual disability and their family members when carrying out assessments or organizing supports.

Personal Support Networks of Young People with Mild Intellectual Disabilities during the Transition to Adult Life

Social support networks occupy a priority position requiring attention in the processes of social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, during their transition to adult life. The objective of the study was to analyze social support from a relational approach through Personal Network Analysis. A total of 41 young people with mild intellectual disabilities participated in the study, in two groups differentiated according to their educational stage, either compulsory secondary education or post-compulsory training. Descriptive and comparative results are presented based on the variables of structure, composition, and functional content in the social support of their personal networks. The results show that both groups have restricted personal networks, made up of members of the family and the educational environment who constitute the main providers of support. When moving towards adult life, the change in social contacts in other educational, geographical, and relational settings may mean a change in the provision of support received in previous life stages. Developing social and educational actions to support these people in the development and maintenance of social relationships is essential to their access to support resources that will affect their social inclusion.

Family network typologies of adults with intellectual disability: Associations with psychological outcomes

BACKGROUND

Based on self-reported social capital, different typologies of family networks of people with intellectual disabilities were examined. Associations between behavioural and emotional problems or well-being and typologies were investigated.

METHOD

137 participants with mild intellectual disability were interviewed using the Family Network Method-Intellectual Disability to assess their emotionally supportive family relationships. Data on participants' well-being and behavioural and emotional problems were also gathered. Latent class analysis was used to identify family typologies based on social network measures.

RESULTS

Four distinguishable typologies were identified, two supportive and two less supportive. A small association was found with behavioural and emotional problems and one of the supportive typologies. Associations with constructs of well-being were found for both supportive and less supportive typologies.

CONCLUSIONS

A variety of family types were found, with implications for sensitive professional support.

Family-based social capital of emerging adults with and without mild intellectual disability

BACKGROUND

Family is recognised as an important context for the self-development of young adults in emerging adulthood, although very little research has addressed the perspective of young people with intellectual disability about their families by using self-report. This study examined how emerging adults with mild intellectual disability define their family support networks, compared with definitions of students without intellectual disability, within a social capital theoretical framework.

METHODS

Fifty-three participants with mild intellectual disability and 53 students without intellectual disability were interviewed individually using the Family Network Method - Intellectual Disability (FNM-ID). Data from the FNM-ID relate to key social network measures on how individuals define their family groups, and how they perceive existing supportive relationships within their families. Participants with mild intellectual disability and students were compared on the FNM-ID social network measures.

RESULTS

Participants with mild intellectual disability reported fewer family members who they considered significant to them than students without intellectual disability. They were less likely to include peers (i.e. friends and partners) and siblings in their significant family networks, had fewer relationships with family members in which they received or gave support, had fewer reciprocal support relationships and had a less central position in their family network.

DISCUSSION

The family-based social capital of emerging adults with mild intellectual disability differed from that of students without intellectual disability. They may remain more dependent on their natural family for emotional support as their supportive networks have not necessarily made the transition to networks with emotionally close peer relationships.

Social Capital and the Reciprocal Nature of Family Relationships: The Perspective of Individuals With Mild Intellectual Disability

Even though family plays a significant role in the lives of people with intellectual disability, little research has included their own views about their families. This study examined how 138 people with mild intellectual disability describe their family group, with a focus on the reciprocal nature of the emotional support in relationships with family members. Participants reported "significant" family members beyond the nuclear family, and parents were seen as the main provider of support. Only half of participants had a support relationship with siblings and just 13% of participants reported partners. About 30% of support was reciprocal, and reciprocity varied greatly with the types of family connection (e.g., siblings, peers). Implications for future research as well as practice are discussed.

The relationship between family social capital, social media use and life satisfaction in adolescents

Background: Nowadays, two social phenomena are identified as factors that significantly influence life satisfaction among adolescents: family social capital and social media use. This study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between family social capital and life satisfaction, and the possible mediating role of social media use between the variables among Iranian adolescents. Methods: In 2018, this cross-sectional study was carried out on 835 adolescents aged from 12to 19, in six high schools of Isfahan, Iran. Data were collected using a validated four-section questionnaire including demographic characteristics (3 items), life satisfaction (5 items), family social capital (31 items) and social media use (4 items) scales. IBM SPSS version 21 statistical software and AMOS version 24 were used to analyze the data. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the fit of model. The significance level of 0.05 was considered for all data analyses. Results: The findings indicated that family social capital and social media use explained 50%of the variance in life satisfaction. Social media use was found with a partial mediating role in the association between family social capital and life satisfaction. Family social capital was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction (β =0.681, P<0.001). The relationship between social media use and life satisfaction was also statistically significant (β =- 0.12, P<0.001). Conclusion: Social media use and family social capital should be considered while investigating the determinants of life satisfaction among adolescents.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure family social capital

The development and psychometric validation of instruments to measure social capital remains a priority in the field. The aim of the current study was to develop a Questionnaire on Family Social Capital (FSCQ) for use in an adolescent population and to test its reliability and validity.

We followed an exploratory, sequential mixed-methods approach consisting of four steps: (1)item selection based on a conceptual model; (2)expert judgment of the conceptual model; (3)cognitive validation through focus groups; (4)psychometric validation, through principal components analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess construct validity, using Cronbach alpha and ICC to test reliability, and testing rural-urban differences to evaluate discriminant validity. A total of 429 3r and 4th ESO students participated in the study.

The resulting 26-item FSCQ demonstrated a second-order model with two dimensions and seven first-order factors. The model showed good internal consistency and reliability, as indicated by the Chi-squared value(χ = 155.834; p = 0.91) and CFI(0.936). Discriminant validity tests showed significantly higher scores for the structural FSC and the total FSC scores for the rural group. We conclude that the instrument is an adequate tool to study family social capital in adolescents.

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Family social capital is an important social determinant of health.

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There is a gap in studying family social capital.

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The development and psychometric validation of instruments to measure social capital remains a priority in Public Health.

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The Family Social Capital Questionnaire is a validated measure to assess family social capital.

Measuring emotional support in family networks: Adapting the Family Network Method for individuals with a mild intellectual disability

Background

Informal supportive networks of individuals with intellectual disability have become increasingly important. The aim of this paper is to describe how the Family Network Method – Intellectual Disability (FNM‐ID) offers a way to gather the perspective of people with mild intellectual disability on their family support.

Method

The FNM is designed to explore how individuals define their family contexts, and more specifically how they perceive existing supportive relationships in these contexts.

Results

By carefully piloting ways of questioning people with mild intellectual disability, systematic adaptations were made to the original FNM. Data obtained by the FNM‐ID can be analysed using social network analysis. Thereby, the FNM‐ID provides rich, theoretically significant information on emotional support in the family networks of individuals with mild intellectual disability.

Conclusions

The FNM‐ID is a useful and successfully adapted tool for other researchers and professionals to systematically explore the family support experiences of individuals with mild intellectual disability.

Family social capital and health - a systematic review and redirection

The level (or scale) at which social capital can be conceptualised and measured ranges potentially from the macro-level (regional or country level), to the meso-level (neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools), down to the individual level. However, one glaring gap in the conceptualisation of social capital within the empirical literature has been the level of the family. Our aim in this review is to examine the family as the 'missing level' in studies on social capital and health. To do so, we conducted a systematic review on the use and measurement of this notion in the health literature, with the final intention of articulating a direction for future research in the field. Our findings are consistent with the notion that family social capital is multidimensional and that its components have distinct effects on health outcomes. Further investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms through which family social capital is related to health, as well as determining the most valid ways to measure family social capital.