Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities Volume 3 Number 1 pp 33–41 March 2006 © 2006 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities and Blackwell Publishing, Inc. Blackwell Publishing IncMalden, USAPPIPolicy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities1741-11222006 International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities and Blackwell Publishing Ltd2006 313341Original ArticleFamily SubtypingM. Margalit et al. Received October 11, 2004; accepted November 19, 2005 Correspondence: Malka Margalit, Constantiner School of Education, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel 52960. Tel: +972 3 534-2998; Fax: + 972 3 534- 6023; E-mail: malka@post.tau.ac.il An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Congress of the Interna- tional Society for Early Intervention, September 9, 2003 in Rome, Italy Family Subtyping and Early Intervention Malka Margalit*, Michal Al-Yagon † , and Talia Kleitman* *Constantiner School of Education, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv; and † School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel Abstract The goal of the study was to identify and differentiate subgroups among mothers whose infants were diagnosed as having a developmental disability. The sample consisted of 80 mothers from intact families whose infants had such diagnoses, most of whom were diagnosed with Down syndrome. All mothers were receiving early intervention services. Acknowledging the mothers’ hetero- geneous reactions to their situation, the study attempted to identify discrete family profiles, based on mothers’ sense of coherence as a measure of personal strength and family cohesion as a measure of systemic support. Four family subtypes were identified. The authors examined experiences of stress, coping, and affect among these subgroups. Significant differences emerged among these four subgroups in mothers’ stress experience, as well as their negative and positive moods. Relations between mothers’ strengths and their needs are discussed as related to the early intervention program. Keywords: coherence, early intervention, family climate, mother’s stress INTRODUCTION The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence of personal psychological variables such as sense of coherence (SOC) and perceptions of family cohesion on mothers’ experi- ence of stress and coping, as well as how these variables were influenced by the mother’s involvement in an early intervention program. Extensive research has been conducted on stress and coping reactions experienced by families of children with disabil- ities (Dyson, 1997; Keller & Honig, 2004; Krauss, 1993; McCub- bin & Patterson, 1983). A primary focus of family-centered intervention programs has been to support families in their caregiving roles, by building on the family’s strengths (Dunst, Johanson, Trivette, & Hamby, 1991; Guralnick, 2001; 2005), and promoting effective coping with challenges (McCubbin, Thompson, Thompson, & McCubbin, 1993). Research on children with disabilities has examined parental stress and well-being (Hauser-Cram, Warfield, Shonkoff, & Wyn- gaarden Krauss, 2001) and has indicated that a family’s socioe- motional support predicts enhanced parental well-being, and that mothers’ stress was especially affected by their support networks (Dyson, 1997; Krauss, 1993). Mothers who reported high levels of stress felt less able to meet day-to-day demands (McDowell, Saylor, Taylor, Boyce, & Stokes, 1995; Webster-Stratton, 1990). Maternal stress was associated with mental health (Wallander, Pitt, & Mellins, 1990) but not with objective physical health or social functioning, even when controlling for demographic status, dis- ability type, and functional independence. A recent study of stress in families with children with intellectual disabilities (Saloviita, Italinna, & Leinonen, 2003) confirmed the importance of inter- vening factors in explaining stress. Other studies have indicated that parenting mood is related to effective coping and well-being (Hassiotis, 1997; Lipman, Boyle, Dooley, & Offord, 2002; Margalit, 1994; Margalit, Raviv, & Ankonina, 1992; Margalit, Shulman, & Stuchiner, 1989; Moes, Koegel, Schreibman, & Loos, 1992). The need to examine individual family responses or sub- groups of families emerged from studies showing that stress does not inevitably result in family pathology or maladaptive coping (Keller & Honig, 2004). Resilience, the ability to withstand and rebound from challenging life events, has become an important concept in research and intervention planning (Walsh, 2003). Resilience does not mean bouncing back unscathed. Instead, it reflects the struggling abilities of parents and their learning from adversity. Individual and systemic factors predict resilient out- comes, including characteristics of individual family members and of family units, as well as features of community support (Crnic, Friedrich, & Greenberg, 1983; Patterson, 2002). Recent studies have emphasized the advantage of exploring family strengths and the characteristics of resilient parents (Patterson, 2002). Parents adapt differently to their children with disabilities, demonstrating the joint impact of parents’ and chil- dren’s characteristics and of parental beliefs (McCollum & Chen, 2003; Parke, 2004; Woolfson, 2004). Studies indicate that a par- ent’s positive mood interacts significantly with the stress experi- enced in predicting adjustment (Chang, 2002), and affects mother’s quality of care for their children (Campbell, 2003). In addition, positive, as compared with negative, cognitions typi- cally decreased the negative impact of stress on adjustment, thus