Structural and Functional Aspects of Social Support for Mothers of Children with and without Cognitive Delays in Vietnam So-Youn Park*, Laraine M. Glidden   and Jin Y. Shin à * New York University, New York, NY, USA;   St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St Marys City, MD, USA and à Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA Accepted for publication 28 September 2009 Background This study reports development of a social support scale appropriate to the Vietnamese culture and the impact of social support on mothers of children with cognitive delays by using the developing scale. Method Interview surveys were conducted with 225 mothers of children with and without cognitive delays in Vietnam. The structural and functional social sup- ports were examined in relation to two aspects of stress, parental competence and role restriction. Demographic variables were incorporated in examining the relation- ships between social support and stress. Results The social support scale had adequate reliability and structural and functional aspects comparable to those found in Western societies. Two domains in func- tional support, material and family-directed support, alleviated stress when controlling for child disability sta- tus and sociodemographic variables. Conclusions The results showed that informal and func- tional social support have some effect on maternal stress. However, when other variables were examined in combination, child disability was the strongest predictor of maternal stress. Keywords: children with disabilities, cognitive delays, mother, social support, stress, Vietnam Introduction Parents who raise children with disabilities often experi- ence more stress than those raising children without dis- abilities (Pelchat et al. 1999; Florian & Findler 2001; Baker et al. 2003; Blacher et al. 2003; Seltzer et al. 2004; Emerson et al. 2006). They face the unexpected and additional challenges of coping with the demands and needs of their children with disabilities, including the burden of arranging multiple special services and pro- grammes for them (Florian & Findler 2001). Social sup- port is one of the many resources on which families might rely to reduce these demands, mitigate their stress and adapt to their children with disabilities (Armstrong et al. 2005; Hassall et al. 2005). Although some investiga- tors have reported that families with children with dis- abilities have reduced access to social support networks and increased social isolation, when families had larger social networks, they reported lower levels of stress (Warfield et al. 1999; Macias et al. 2007). In general, social support refers to the assistance an individual receives from others (Findler 2000). More specifically, it is a complex multidimensional construct consisting of two broad categories: (i) formal ⁄ informal and (ii) structural ⁄ functional (Findler 2000; Boyd 2002; Glidden & Schoolcraft 2007). Formal support comes from professionals, such as teachers, social workers, physicians or agencies (e.g. hospitals, early intervention programmes) (Dunst et al. 1988; Findler 2000; Glidden & Schoolcraft 2007). Informal support comes, for example, from immediate or extended family, relatives, friends, neighbours, other parents of children with disabilities, religious organizations or social clubs (Dunst et al. 1988; Boyd 2002). Whereas structural analysis of social sup- port involves size, range and interconnectedness, the functional aspect of social support is divided into three areas: emotional, instrumental (material aid) and infor- mational (Cohen & Syme 1985). Emotional support involves having someone to provide encouragement and to talk to about problems or personal issues (Chen & Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 2010, 23, 38–51 Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 10.1111/j.1468-3148.2009.00550.x Published for the British Institute of Learning Disabilities