Maternal coping patterns indicated that younger mothers
reported more helpful coping related to family integration,
cooperation and optimism, and the pattern of medical
communication and consultation. Taken together, the
mother’s coping patterns play a major part in encouraging
family members to be concerned, helpful and supportive of
each family member and encouraging members to act openly
and to express their feelings to medical staff. In contrast to
maternal coping, the father’s coping patterns appear to vary
by the father’s age in terms of maintaining self-esteem and
psychological stability. That is, younger fathers reported
more helpful coping related to maintaining social support,
self-esteem, and psychological stability.
Perceived social support, as defined in this study, was
positively related to individual parental coping. Thus, if a
parent perceived more social support, the individual might
also be likely to report a higher level of coping. This
hypothesis was supported and the five dimensions of social
support (intimacy, social integration, nurturance, self-worth
and assistance / guidance) appeared to be significant contributory
components of individual parental coping behaviours.
Several studies suggest that emotional and instrumental